Remote contractor system with site specific energy audit capability

ABSTRACT

A system that allows a contractor to remotely monitor and/or interact with its customers&#39; building control systems, such as heating, ventilating and air conditioning (HVAC) systems, and analyze information obtained from the building control systems over time. Such a system may help the contractor monitor and diagnosis customer building control systems, setup service calls, achieve better customer relations, create more effective marketing opportunities, as well as other functions. In some cases, the disclosed system may include a controller that analyzes data from HVAC systems, determines a thermal model of a space environmentally controlled by an HVAC system, and provides an energy audit of the space that is environmentally controlled by the HVAC system. The controller may output a result of the energy audit to a user.

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application Ser.No. 61/899,427, filed Nov. 4, 2013, entitled “Methods and Systems forProviding Improved Service for Building Control Systems”, which isincorporated herein by reference.

This application is related to U.S. patent application Ser. No.14/531,241 filed on Nov. 3, 2014 and U.S. patent application Ser. No.14/531,421 filed on Nov. 3, 2014.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates generally to methods, systems and toolsfor providing improved service for building control systems such asheating, ventilating and air conditioning (HVAC) systems, securitysystems, lighting systems, fire control systems, and other buildingsystems.

BACKGROUND

Most buildings include building control systems that monitor andregulate various functions of the building for the comfort and wellbeing of the occupants. These building control systems can include, forexample, HVAC systems, security systems, lighting systems, fire controlsystems, and/or other building control systems.

Building control systems commonly require some preventative and/orcorrective maintenance on an on-going basis. In practice, suchpreventive and/or corrective maintenance is often neglected, leading toless efficient operation of the building. In many cases, the buildingcontrol systems are operated until failure, and then a contractor iscalled to make repairs. Such a reactive approach to maintenance is alltoo common, and typically increases the costs associated with operatingthe building control systems, leads to discomfort and/or apprehensiononce a failure occurs, and leads in some cases to significant damage tothe building (e.g. water damage caused by frozen pipes, etc.). Moreover,once a failure has occurred, the contractor service call is typically ahigh priority call, which can reduce operational inefficiencies for thecontractor and can result in additional expense for the building owner.What would be desirable are methods, systems and tools for providingimproved service to building control systems, which can in some cases,improve the experience of both the building owner and contractor.

SUMMARY

Generally, the present disclosure relates to methods, systems and toolsfor providing improved service for building control systems such asheating, ventilating and air conditioning (HVAC) systems, securitysystems, lighting systems, fire control systems, and other buildingcontrol systems. In some instances, a disclosed system may include aremote system configured to communicate with an HVAC controller, wherethe HVAC controller may control one or more HVAC components of an HVACsystem of a building. The remote system may include a communicationsport, a memory, and a controller coupled to the communications port andthe memory. The communications port may send and/or receive data relatedto the operation of one or more HVAC controllers and the memory maystore information comprising data related to the operation of one ormore HVAC controllers. The controller may be configured to analyze atleast some of the received data related to the operation of an HVACsystem controlled by an HVAC controller over time, and based on theanalysis, develop a thermal model of a space environmentally controlledby the HVAC system. In some cases, the controller may be furtherconfigured to provide an energy audit of the space that isenvironmentally controlled by the HVAC system based on the thermal modeland to output a result of the energy audit to a user via thecommunications port.

In another illustrative system, a remote system may be configured tocommunicate with an HVAC controller, where the HVAC controller maycontrol one or more HVAC components of an HVAC system of a building. Theremote system may include a communications port, a memory, and acontroller coupled to the communications port and the memory. Thecommunications port may send and/or receive data related to theoperation of one or more HVAC controllers and the memory may storeinformation comprising data related to the operation of one or more HVACcontrollers. The controller may be configured to analyze at least someof the received data related to an operation of an HVAC systemcontrolled by an HVAC controller over time, and based on the analysis,output a building report graphically depicting operation of the HVACsystem over time.

In another illustrative system, a remote contractor system may include acommunications port, a memory, and a controller coupled to thecommunications port and the memory. The communications port may sendand/or receive data related to the operation of two or more HVACcontrollers of two or more HVAC systems, each servicing one of two ormore building. The received data may include one or more of indoortemperature data, indoor humidity data, temperature setpoint data,outdoor temperature data, outdoor humidity data, heating activity data,and cooling activity data. The memory may store received data related tothe operation of the two or more HVAC systems. The controller may beconfigured to perform an analysis of the received data over time, andbased on the analysis, identify a customized thermal model for each ofthe two or more buildings and generate a predicted HVAC system run timefor each of the two or more buildings based, at least in part, on thecorresponding customized thermal model. In some cases, the controllermay be further configured to output a report for each of the two or morebuildings that is based on an actual HVAC system run time versus thepredicted HVAC system run time.

The above summary of the present disclosure is not intended to describeeach disclosed embodiment or every implementation of the presentdisclosure. The Figures, Detailed Description and Examples which followmore particularly exemplify these embodiments.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

The disclosure may be more completely understood in consideration of thefollowing detailed description of various embodiments of the disclosurein connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a schematic flow diagram of an illustrative system;

FIG. 2 is a schematic block diagram of an illustrative HVAC controller;

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of an illustrative contractor web accessarchitecture;

FIG. 4 is a schematic screen shot showing an illustrative contractorsearch page displayed on a mobile device;

FIG. 5 is a schematic screen shot of an illustrative electronic businesscard that may be displayed in response to a contractor search via thecontractor search page of FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a schematic flow diagram of an illustrative method of engaginga contractor;

FIGS. 7-12 are a schematic flow diagram showing an illustrativecontractor portal for use by a contractor;

FIG. 13 are schematic screen shots showing different views of anillustrative contractor page formatted for different computing devices;

FIG. 14 is a schematic flow diagram of an illustrative method foraccessing information via a contractor portal;

FIG. 15 is a schematic screen shot demonstrating the ability tocustomize and/or rearrange features that are displayed on the contractorpages of a contractor portal;

FIGS. 16A-16D are schematic screen shots showing illustrative contractorpages related to the generation of customer report cards;

FIG. 17 is a schematic screen shot of an illustrative alert listing pagethat may be delivered and displayed on a mobile device;

FIGS. 18A-18B are schematic screen shots of illustrative alert screensdisplayed on a mobile device;

FIG. 19 is a schematic screen shot of an illustrative case log page of acontractor portal;

FIG. 20 is a schematic screen shot of an illustrative case log listingpage of a contractor portal;

FIG. 21 is a schematic screen shot of an illustrative arrivalnotification displayed on a mobile device;

FIG. 22 is a schematic screen shot of an illustrative rating requestnotification displayed on a mobile device;

FIG. 23 is a schematic screen shot of an illustrative customersatisfaction page of a contractor portal;

FIG. 24 is a schematic screen shot of an illustrative customeridentification map of a contractor portal;

FIGS. 25A and 25B are schematic screen shots of illustrative contractorand customer service call scheduling screens;

FIG. 26 is a schematic screen shot of an illustrative return oninvestment counter page of a contractor portal;

FIG. 27 is a schematic screen shot of an illustrative sales leads pageof a contractor portal;

FIG. 28 is a schematic screen shot of an illustrative customerconnections page of a contractor portal;

FIG. 29 is a schematic screen shot of an illustrative overall customersatisfaction page of a contractor portal;

FIG. 30 is a schematic screen shot of an illustrative truck rollsavoided page of a contractor portal;

FIGS. 31A and 31B are schematic screen shots of illustrative promotionalscreens displayed on a mobile device;

FIG. 32 is a schematic screen shot of an illustrative suggestive sellingtip of a contractor portal;

FIG. 33 is a schematic screen shot of an illustrative suggestive sellingtip of a contractor portal;

FIG. 34 is a schematic screen shot of an illustrative suggestion to viewtechnical information in a contractor portal;

FIG. 35 is a schematic screen shot of an illustrative contest pagedisplayed in a contractor portal; and

FIG. 36 is a schematic flow diagram showing use of an applicationprogramming interface (API) on a mobile device for user interaction.

While the disclosure is amenable to various modifications andalternative forms, specifics thereof have been shown by way of examplein the drawings and will be described in detail. It should beunderstood, however, that the intention is not to limit the disclosureto the particular embodiments described. On the contrary, the intentionis to cover all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives fallingwithin the spirit and scope of the disclosure.

DESCRIPTION

The following description should be read with reference to the drawings,in which like elements in different drawings are numbered in likefashion. The drawings, which are not necessarily to scale, depictselected embodiments and are not intended to limit the scope of thedisclosure. Although examples of construction, dimensions, and materialsare illustrated for the various elements, those skilled in the art willrecognize that many of the examples provided have suitable alternativesthat may be utilized.

Generally, the present disclosure relates to methods, systems and toolsfor providing improved service for building control systems such asheating, ventilating and air conditioning (HVAC) systems, securitysystems, lighting systems, fire control systems, and other buildingcontrol systems. While an HVAC system is used as an example in thisdisclosure, it is contemplated that the present disclosure can beapplied to any sort of building control system.

FIG. 1 discloses a flow diagram of a system 100 (e.g., a remote systemcomprising a remote contractor system and/or a remote client or customersystem) for providing improved service for building control systems. Thesystem 100 may include a remote computing device 110 (e.g. server)communicating with one or more HVAC systems 130 via one or morecontrollers 120 (e.g., a thermostat or other HVAC controller) associatedwith each of the one or more HVAC systems 130. The system 100 may alsoinclude an internet gateway or modem (not shown), a customer portal 202(e.g., a web page, an application, a program, and/or other softwareinterface on a hardware interface configured by, on, or through thecontroller 111 of the remote computing device 110), and/or a contractorportal 204 (e.g., a web page, an application, a program, and/or othersoftware interface on a hardware interface configured by, on, or throughthe controller 111). The HVAC system 130 and the controller 120 may begenerally referred to as a building automation system. The HVAC system130 and/or the controller 120 may be located at least partially within abuilding structure (e.g., a client or customer building structure orother building structure), and the remote computing device 110 may belocated outside of the building structure at a remote location or withinthe building structure at a location remote from the HVAC system 130and/or the controller 120. In some cases, the remote computing device110 may communicate with a plurality of HVAC systems 130 (e.g., a clientor customer HVAC system or other HVAC system) through one or morecontrollers 120 (e.g., over a wired or wireless network). The remotecomputing device 110 and/or the contractor portal 204 may be a part of aremote contractor system of system 100. The remote contractor system maybe configured to communicate with controller(s) 120 servicingcorresponding buildings.

In some instances, the controller 120 may provide test information,maintenance information, and/or other information related to the HVACsystem 130 back to the remote computing device 110 via an internetgateway or modem or other communications device. An internet gateway ormodem may be used particularly when there is a substantial orinsubstantial physical distance between the remote computing device(s)110 and the controller(s) 120.

The remote computing device(s) 110 may include the controller 111, amemory 112, and/or a communications port 113 (e.g., an input/output portand/or other ports), where the controller 111 is in communication withthe memory 112 and the communications port 113. The memory 112 may beconfigured to store data related to operation of one or more of thecontrollers 120 (e.g., a plurality of client HVAC controllers associatedwith a plurality of HVAC systems linked to a contractor), businessperformance data associated with one or more contractors, customerperformance data associated with the one or more contractors, and/orother data, information, and/or instructions. The controller 111 of theremote computing device(s) 110 may be or may include a processor (e.g.,a microprocessor) capable of operating software. In some instances, thecontroller 111 may be configured to output via the communications port113 one or more alerts related to an operation of an HVAC systemassociated with a controller 120 (e.g., a client or customer HVACcontroller) for viewing by a contractor on a display displaying thecontractor portal 204, as further described below.

In some cases, the remote computing device 110 may include a personalcomputer having a central processing unit, a display monitor, andcommunication and connectivity means, such as a modem or internetconnection. Alternatively, or in addition, the remote computing device110 may be a server or server farm. Alternatively, or in addition, theremote computing device 110 may include a telephone, a smart phone, atablet computer, a personal digital assistant (PDA), an ebook reader,etc. The remote computing device 110 may include any number ofadditional or other components such as data storage (e.g., volatileand/or non-volatile memory) and data routing components, as desired. Insome cases, the remote computing device 110 may be or may include a webserver that may provide access to and/or control of the controller 120and/or HVAC system 130 via the Internet and/or other network.

The remote computing device 110 may be configured to operativelycommunicate with one or more controllers 120 via the communications port113 over a network. For example, the remote computing device 110 may becapable of transmitting one or more signals to one or more controllers120 through the communications port 113. Additionally, or alternatively,the remote computing device 110 may be capable of receiving data fromthe controller(s) 120 regarding the building control system (e.g., theone or more HVAC systems 130). In some cases, the controller 120 and/orthe remote computing device 110 may be capable of analyzing (e.g., viatrend analysis and/or other statistical analyses) the building controlsystem (e.g. HVAC system 130) related data, and generating one or moreoutput reports based on the received data, which may be requested,received, and/or analyzed by or at the customer portal 202 and/or thecontractor portal 204.

In some instances, customers (e.g., an owner or operator of an HVACsystem 130) and/or contractors may have computing devices (e.g., apersonal computer 201, a mobile computing device 203, etc.) that maycommunicate with the remote computing device 110, the controller 120,and/or with each other. The customer computing devices and thecontractor computing devices may include personal computers having acentral processing unit, a display monitor, and communication andconnectivity means, such as a modem or internet connection.Alternatively or in addition, the customer computing devices and thecontractor computing devices may be telephones, smart phones, tabletcomputers, personal digital assistants (PDAs), ebook readers, etc. Thecustomer computing devices and/or the contractor computing devices mayinclude any number of additional or other components such as datastorage (e.g., volatile and/or non-volatile memory) and data routingcomponents, as desired. The customer computing devices and/or thecontractor computing devices may communicate with the remote computingdevice 110 and/or the controller 120 through any suitable communicationtechnology including, but not limited to, wired communications such asfiber optics, cables, twisted pairs, and the like, and/or wirelesscommunications such as WiFi, radio, BLUETOOTH®, ZIGBEE®, near field,cellular, satellite, and the like. In some cases, the communicationbetween customer computing devices, the contractor computing devices,the remote computing device 110, the controller 120, and/or the HVACsystem(s) 130 may be capable of bi-directional (e.g., two-way)communication.

The HVAC system 130 and controller 120 may be one of a number of HVACsystems that are in communication with the remote computing device 110.In one example, there may be 2, 10, 20, 30, 50, 100, 1000, 10,000 orother number of HVAC systems in communication with the remote computingdevice 110. It is contemplated that the HVAC system 130 may be aresidential and/or a commercial HVAC system. In an illustrativeinstance, the remote computing device 110 may maintain a customerdatabase on memory disk 112 that identifies the particular controller120 and/or HVAC system 130 that corresponds to each customer. In somecases, the remote computing device 110 may be used to search thecustomer database according to one or more search criteria, such as ageographic region, type of HVAC system equipment, service level, activealerts, maintenance requirements, and/or in any other suitable manner.An illustrative embodiment of one of the HVAC systems 130 is describedbelow.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an illustrative controller 120. Thecontroller 120 may be any suitable controller, and in an illustrativeinstance, may include a processor 121 (e.g., a microprocessor or otherprocessor), a user interface 122 (e.g., a display and/or keypad), aremote communicator 123 (e.g., a modem, gateway, etc.), a memory 124, atemperature sensor 125, and/or an input/output port 126. In someembodiments, the controller 120 may be coupled to the remote computingdevice 110 and/or the customer portal 202 and/or the contractor portal204 via the remote communicator 123 and to the HVAC system(s) 130 (e.g.,HVAC units or components thereof) via the input/output port 126. In someinstances, the controller 120 and the HVAC system 130 may communicateover a common wired or wireless connection. In some cases, a common wireor bus may be configured to be compatible with the ENVIRACOM® protocol,provided by the assignee of the present disclosure, but this is notrequired. The ENVIRACOM® protocol may facilitate HVAC appliances,thermostats, gateways and other components communicating with each otherover a common bus.

The processor 121 may be capable of being programmed such that thecontroller 120 changes one or more control signals sent to the HVACsystem 130 based on the time of day, temperature, humidity, ventilation,or any other desired parameter. The user interface 122 may provideparameter readings and/or set point information to the user. The memory124 may be embodied in a variety of forms, for example, read only memorymay be used to retain operating and/or maintenance programs andpredetermined values and random access memory may provide working memoryspace, as desired. The memory 124 may be volatile and/or non-volatilememory. The foregoing elements may be implemented by any suitabledevices.

The temperature sensor 125 of the controller 120 may be located withinor at the controller and/or the temperature sensor 125 may be locatedremote from the controller 120. The controller 120 may include or be incommunication with a single temperature sensor 125 or more than onetemperature sensor. Remotely located temperatures sensor(s) 125 maycommunicate with the controller 120 through the input/output port 126 orin any other manner.

In addition to the temperature sensor 125, the controller 120 maycommunicate with the one or more other sensors (e.g., humidity sensor,motion sensor, infra-red sensor, etc.). The one or more sensors otherthan the temperature sensor 125 may be located within or at thecontroller 120 and/or remote from the controller 120. Remotely locatedsensors other than the temperature sensors 125 may communicate with thecontroller 120 through the input/output port 126 or in any other manner.

In some cases, the controller 120 may be configured to track and/orstore data and/or information related to the HVAC system 130 and/oroperation of the HVAC system 130, where the controller may store thedata and/or information in the memory 124 at the controller 120 and/orin memory 112 at one or more remote computing devices 110. The dataand/or information related to the HVAC system 130 that the controller120 may track and/or store can include performance data such as alerts,user interactions with the controller and/or the HVAC system (e.g., aninteraction log), control settings, control settings of a controlledarea relative to environment conditions exterior the controlled area,and/or any other suitable data and/or information. The controller 120may track and/or store particular data and/or information on its owninitiative in response to a previously programmed algorithm and/or upona request from the remote computing device (e.g., via a customer using acustomer portal 202 or a contractor using a contractor portal 204).

Based on the data and/or information tracked and/or stored by thecontroller 120, the controller 120 may generate one or more reportsviewable from the customer portal 202 and/or the contractor portal 204.The controller 120 may generate the reports on its own initiative (e.g.,as initially programmed or in response to recognizing a threshold value)or in response to receiving a command from the remote computing device110, the customer portal 202, and/or the contractor portal. Thegenerated reports may include data and/or information over a set timeperiod, data and/or information compared to another set of data and/orinformation (e.g., controlled area settings versus outdoor temperatures,etc.), and/or any other analysis of the data or information.

The user interface 122 (e.g., a display and/or keypad) of the controller120 may display one or more messages and/or queries. The messages and/orqueries displayed on the user interface 122 of the controller 120 may bethe same or different messages and/or queries than messages and/orqueries that may be displayed at a customer portal 202 or the contractorportal 204. The messages and/or queries may include, but are not limitedto, alerts related to the HVAC system 130, queries from a contractorentered at the contractor's portal 204, HVAC system setup or operatingquestions or messages, etc. In one example, customers may be able toaccess the customer portal 202 at the controller 120 and/or thecontractors may be able to access the contractor portal 204 at thecontroller 120.

In some instances, customers may sign up with a contractor for remotemonitoring of their HVAC systems 130 through system 100, where customersmay be considered to be owners and/or operators of their respective HVACsystems 130. As a result of signing up for remote monitoring with acontractor, the customer may have remote access (e.g., access throughcustomer portal 202) to the monitoring of its HVAC system 130 throughsystem 100. An illustrative sign up process is discussed in greaterdetail below.

As used herein, the term “contractor” denotes an HVAC maintenance orinstaller contractor or HVAC maintenance or installer contractor companythat may perform maintenance on and/or install the HVAC system 130located in customers home or building. The term “contractor” may alsorefer to other entities such as HVAC manufacturers, OEMs and/or others,as desired.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of an illustrative embodiment of acontractor web access page 400. The contractor web access page 400 maycorrespond to the contractor portal 204. In some instances, thecontractor web access page 400 may be operated by software useful formanaging a customer database and utilizing the data storage and routinginformation described above. While “web pages” are used as an example inFIG. 3, it should be recognized that the user (e.g. contractor orcustomer) may interact with the information via an “app” that is runningon a portable or other electronic device, or in any other suitablemanner.

In an illustrative embodiment, one or more contractors 415 may each havea set of web pages associated with their contractor accounts such as,for example, a set of web pages associated with a No. 1 Contractoraccount 420 and a set of web pages associated with a No. “N” Contractoraccount 410. Each contractor 415 may access its set of web pages via acommon web access URL 430 by entering a user name and password unique tothe contractor. Each set of contractor web pages 410, 420 may displayinformation regarding its HVAC maintenance customer base such as, forexample, customer base statistics, HVAC unit or component reports,customer record management, communications status, and the like.

Each set of contractor web pages 410, 420 may be linked to a customerdatabase 401, 402. Each customer database 401, 402 may includeinformation for each HVAC customer such as, for example, customeraccount number(s), HVAC system/customer addresses, alarm thresholds,messaging options, service configurations, communication linkinformation, alarm history, alarm solution history, and the like. Theinformation provided in the customer records 401, 402 may be suppliedfor each customer with an HVAC system 130. The customer database 401,402 may be located within controller 120, the remote computing device110, or the customer base database 401, 402 may be stored in any otherlocation and may be in communication with the controller 120 and/or theremote computing device 110. In one example, each contractor 415 may usethe data provided through its set of web pages associated with itsaccount to determine which customer HVAC systems 130 may requiremaintenance, and then perform the required maintenance either remotelyor onsite. Other uses of the data provided through the set of contractorweb pages are contemplated and at least some of those other uses aredisclosed herein.

In some instances, the contractor portal 204 may allow the contractorsto create customized alerts, reports, tests, set protocols to fixidentified issues, and other customizations to the interactions betweenthe contractor and the customer or customer's HVAC system 130. In oneexample, a contractor may develop customer reports on any data and/orinformation within its contractor portal 204 pertaining to HVAC systemdata, customer management, customer inputs, partners (e.g., applicationprogramming interface partners), local or networked partners (e.g.,partners providing non-HVAC systems services and/or products), etc.These customized alerts, reports, tests, fix protocols, and othercustomizations may be formatted for specific audiences. For example, atechnician job history report may be developed that is customized toinclude information that is deemed relevant to a technician, and acustomer job history report may be developed that is customized toinclude information that is deemed relevant to a customer. The alerts,reports, tests, fix protocols, and other customizations may beconfigured in electronic form (e.g., saved in memory or appliedelectronically) or may be configured in hard copy form (e.g., printedout or manually performed).

The customer portal 202 may include a set of customer web access pagesthat may be operated by software useful for managing data obtained froma customer's HVAC system 130. The customer portal 202 may be accessiblefrom a common or different web access URL or application for eachcustomer. Each customer may access their customer specific set of webpages by entering specific login credentials (e.g., a particularusername and password) at the associated URL or mobile application. Eachset of customer pages may be linked to the customer's buildingautomation system, such that information about the HVAC system(s) 130may be accessed via the customer database (e.g., customer databases 401,402). The information stored in the customer database may include, butis not limited to, account number(s), address(es) of the HVAC system130, associated contractor(s), alarm history, messaging options, serviceconfigurations, a calendar that may be synced with a personal calendarand/or a contractor's calendar, and the like. Further, the set ofwebpages of the customer portal 202 may include an option to search forcontractors within a particular geographical area, by specialty, byrating and/or via one or more other filters. In at least one instance,the ability to search for contractors may be accessible by customers andpotential customers alike (e.g., without requiring login credentials).

FIG. 4 is an illustrative depiction of a contractor search page 170. Thecontractor search page 170 may include a search box 172 and a searchresults section 174. The results section 174 may display results of acontractor search query, which may include names of one or morecontractors and the contractors' contact information, along with otherinformation as desired (e.g., customer feedback, ratings, contractorlocation via maps, etc.).

When setting up its contractor profile (see FIG. 8), a contractor mayuse a graphical map, a listing of zip codes, or any other suitablemechanism to set its area of service. The set area of service may beutilized when a customer or potential customer is searching for acontractor. The area of service may be associated with one or more zipcodes within the contractor specified area of service and the system 100may display the contractor's contact information when a search isexecuted for a contractor to service a location (e.g. customer's home)that is located in the contractor's service area.

One tool of the system 100 that customers and/or potential customers mayview when searching for contractors, is a contractor electronic businesscard 103, as shown in FIG. 5, viewable by customers and potentialcustomers in a contractor's established service area. The electronicbusiness card 103, which may be labeled “Find A Dealer” or may have anyother name associated therewith, may list one or more contractors thathave a service area overlapping with the location of the customer orpotential customer, and provide contact information for each suchcontractor. Optionally, customer ratings 98 for each contractor (e.g.,averaged customer ratings or other customer ratings), as shown in FIG. 5as a set of stars, may be displayed on the electronic business cards103. The electronic business card 103 may allow the customers orpotential customers to contact the contractor directly via phone, email,website visit, etc., or indirectly by requesting a follow up regardingservices the contractor may be able to provide. In some instances,contact may be initiated by clicking on a phone number, email address,or other selectable feature on the electronic business card 103.

The listing of one or more contractors may be communicated from thecontroller 111 of the remote computing device 110 to a display forviewing by a customer. In some instances, the listing of one or morecontractors may be displayed on a display of a building automationcontroller (e.g., HVAC controller 120) that corresponds to the buildingautomation system for which an alert has been indicated and/or on adisplay of a device (e.g., a smart phone, a tablet, a laptop, a personcomputer, and/or other device) that may be associated with the buildingautomation system for which an alert has been indicated. In someinstances, the controller 111 of the remote computing device 110 may beconfigured to display the listing of one or more contractors in a pop-upwindow or other window or page on a display of a user or customer'sdevice.

The listing of one or more building automation system contractors may beprovided in any suitable order. For example, the listing of one or morebuilding automation system contractors may be ordered based, at least inpart, on the listed contractors ability to address an alert (e.g., anability as determined by a listing of specialties, education, or otherobjective analysis of abilities), on customer based ratings, ongeographic proximity to the geographic location of the customer's HVACsystem, alphabetically, and/or on one or more other parameter.

From the listing of building automation system contractors, a customermay be able to select a contractor. Once a customer has selected acontractor, the controller may be configured to output a notification tothe selected contractor.

A list of local contractors may be developed and/or a contractor may becontacted when an abnormality is detected and/or an alarm created. Inone example, the controller 111 of a remote system 100 may be configuredto determine if a building automation system (e.g. HVAC system 130) forwhich an alert has been generated is already associated with acontractor. If the building automation system (e.g. HVAC system 130) forwhich an alert has been generated is not already associated or linkedwith a contractor, the controller 111 may be configured to output viathe communications port 113 information of local contractors (e.g.,building automation system contractors) along with the active alert. Inone example, when a customer is using the system 100 to monitor its HVACsystem(s) 130 (or other building automation systems), and the customeris not directly associated with a particular contractor, a list of oneof one or more local contractors (e.g., electronic business cards 103)may be populated on the customer's set of web access pages when an alertoccurs (e.g., the web access page may read “A compressor has failed.Here is a contractor that can help . . . ”).

In instances where the customer is already associated with a contractorin the system 100, the controller 111 may be configured to output viathe communications port 113 an indication of the associated contractor(e.g., electronic business cards 103) and/or that the associatedcontractor has been notified of the alert. In one example, theindication displayed may read “A compressor has failed. Your contractorhas been notified”. The controller 111 may be configured to output oneor more other indications indicating a contractor has been contactedabout an alert.

In order for customers to receive full access to a set of personalizedcustomer web access pages, the customer may need to receive aninvitation from a contractor in the system 100. Receiving an invite froma contractor in the system 100 may allow the customer to sign up for anHVAC monitoring service provided by system 100, and/or directly enrollwith the contractor that sent the invite. The customer may be enrolledfor a short period of time (e.g. for 4 hours or other amount of timethat may encompass a service call, enough time to run a diagnostic,etc.), or a longer term (e.g., to allow for monitoring system 100 overtime), as desired.

FIG. 6 shows an illustrative flow diagram 200 for signing up a customerfor building automation system (e.g., HVAC system) monitoring servicesand/or for a contractor to gain access to a user's HVAC system or otherbuilding automation system via one or more networks. Initially, and inone example, through the customer portal 202 (e.g., web access through aweb page or app), the customer may search 206 for a contractor in itsgeographical area by entering a keyword search, clicking “Find aContractor” that uses the location services (e.g. GPS) of the computingdevice to determine a search area, and/or through any other desiredsearch technique. The customer portal 202 may populate and/or display alist of contractors servicing the customer's area 208 in response to thesearch query by the customer. As the customer is reviewing the displayedlist of contractors, the customer may select or click on one or more ofthe contractors 210 for further information related to the selectedcontractor. Once a customer identifies a potentially suitablecontractor, the customer may submit a request 212 for that contractor tocontact the customer. The contractor may then receive the request 214from the customer through a contractor portal 204 and the selectedcontractor may contact the customer 216 and/or send the customer acustomer invite 218 (e.g., after or before contacting the customer 216)to invite the customer to the monitoring service of system 100.

From the received invite 220 and through the customer portal 202 orother mechanism using a device of the customer, the customer may choosea monitoring program 222 (e.g., a full or partial monitoring program fora desired period of time) that best suits the customer's needs and alsowhich may limit or grant a certain level of access to the selectedcontractor to its building automation system. Once a monitoring programhas been selected by the customer, the customer's building automationsystem may be automatically set up for monitoring (assuming allnecessary hardware has been installed, e.g. a thermostat incommunication with the internet) by the contractor that sent the invite226 and the customer and contractor may have linked accounts 224 tofacilitate the monitoring, scheduling and/or performance of maintenancechecks, etc. Even after the customer and contractor are linked throughthe system 100, the customer may have the ability to disconnect thecontractor portal 204 from its building automation system (andcorresponding data and/or information) and/or its customer portal 202,which may allow the customer to retain control of its HVAC system dataand/or information.

In one example of a method for a contractor to gain access to a user'sbuilding automation system (e.g., a first client's HVAC system or otherbuilding automation system) via one or more networks, a controller 111of the system 100 may be configured to send an electronic invitation toa device of the user via the communications port 113, wherein theelectronic invitation may solicit the user to grant or deny access tothe user's building automation system by the system 100. In some cases,a contractor may send an electronic invitation directly to a user'sdevice. The invitation may be sent in response to the system 100 or thecontractor receiving a request from a user of the system, or theinvitation may be sent for other reasons.

In some instances, where a contractor is or has a potential to work witha customer that is not signed up for HVAC system monitoring, butotherwise has the equipment for such monitoring, the contractor may sendthat customer or potential customer an invite for partial or full accessto monitoring through the system 100. To associate the customer's orpotential customer's building automation system with the contractor, thecontractor may ask the customer for an building automation systemidentifying code or other mechanism for allowing the contractor tolocate the customer or potential customer's building automation systemon the network. With this partial or full monitoring feature, once thecustomer accepts the limited invite, the contractor may be able to runtests, run diagnostics, and/or change settings on the customer's orpotential customer's building automation system from a remote location(e.g. from contractor portal 204). Such ability saves the contractortime in traveling to the location of the building automation system.Further, the customer need not necessarily be present when thecontractor is diagnosing/testing the customer's building automationsystem.

The controller 111 of the system 100 and/or the contractor may receivean electronic response to the electronic invitation from the user thateither grants or denies the contractor access to the customer's buildingautomation system (e.g., access to data related to the operation of theuser's building automation, access to control the user's buildingautomation system onsite and/or remotely, access for a set period oftime, etc.). Data related to operation of a customer's buildingautomation system may include, but is not limited to, one or more ofhistorical operational data, current operational data, futureoperational data, two or more of historical, current, and futureoperational data, data of or related to a user interaction log thatrecords user interactions with the customer's building automationsystem, and/or other data.

If the electronic response grants the contractor access to thecustomer's building automation system, the system 100 may obtain accessto the operation of customer's building automation system and thecontractor may obtain access to the customer's building automationsystem via the system 100. In one example, when access is granted to acustomer's building automation system, gaining access may include thecontroller 111 downloading data from the customer's building automationsystem via a network and/or providing access to a database that storesdata that has been downloaded from the customer's building automationsystem via the network. If the electronic response denies the contractoraccess to the customer's building automation system, the system 100, andthus the contractor, may not gain access to the customer's buildingautomation system, including data and/or control thereof.

Electronic invitations sent to a user's device may include, but are notlimited to, an invite email that is electronically sent to a customer'semail account, an invite text message that is sent to a customer's textmessage account, and/or one or more other types of invites that are sentto one or more other types of accounts. Illustratively, the invites mayinclude a link to a web page that may provide a solicitation for acustomer to grant or deny access to a customer's building automationsystem. If a customer selects a grant option, a first electronicresponse (e.g., a grant electronic response) may be received by thesystem 100 granting access to the customer's building automation system.If a user selects a deny option, a second electronic response (e.g., adeny electronic response) may be received by the system 100 denyingaccess to the customer's building automation system.

In some cases, the electronic invitations sent to a user may solicit acustomer (e.g., via a webpage from a link in an invite or via one ormore other mechanisms) to select a level of access (e.g., a level ofaccess may be related to the detail of data provided with a level ofaccess, the type of components to which access is granted, etc.) togrant to the system 100 (e.g., controller 111) and/or the contractorfrom one or more different levels of access related to the operation ofthe customer's building automation system. Additionally, oralternatively, the electronic invitation sent to a customer may solicita customer (e.g., via a webpage from a link in an invite or via one ormore other mechanisms) to select a period of time for which the system100 and/or contractor may have access to the customer's buildingautomation system and then, a response received at the system 100 and/orby the contractor may include a grant of access for a selected period oftime.

In some instances, if a customer selects a new contractor, itshistorical HVAC system data and/or information provided to the firstcontractor (e.g., a former contractor) may or may not be deliveredand/or made available to the second contractor (e.g., a new contractor).In instances where the data and/or information is not delivered and/ormade available to the second contractor, customers may be incentivizedto stay with the first contractor.

FIGS. 7-12 are a schematic flow diagram showing an illustrativecontractor portal 204 for use by a contractor. After logging into thecontractor portal 204 with a username and/or password, a homepage 20 maybe displayed. The Homepage 20 (discussed further below) may providecontractor selected categories (or pre-set categories) of informationregarding the contractor's customers and/or the contractor's customersbuilding automation systems. Additionally, or alternatively, theHomepage 20 may provide other contractor selected information, such as,but not limited to, current weather 21, forecasted weather, drivingconditions, customer reviews, supplied products and/or prices,calendars, schedules, and/or any other suitable information. In someinstances, the current weather 21 for the general service area of thecontractor may be displayed on each page, or at least one page, of thecontractor portal 204. One or more of the features or information (e.g.,in boxes) displayed on the Homepage 20 may include a link (hidden orotherwise), where in response to selecting the link, the controller 111may be configured to provide more detailed information corresponding tothe higher level information displayed on the Homepage 20.

From the Homepage 20, a contractor may be able to navigate to a MyProfile page 30, as shown in FIG. 8. The My Profile page 30 may providepersonal account information for the contractor and/or other informationtied to the username and/or password used to log in to the contractorportal 204, as better shown in FIG. 8. Personal account information mayinclude, but is not limited to, company name, address, phone number,email address, web site address, service area, product expertise,manufacturer's certifications, and/or any other suitable informationpertaining to the contractor. The My Profile page 30 may further includean edit button to edit the personal account information of thecontractor.

In one example, a contractor may be able to enter the my profile page 30and navigate to a manage users page, where a list of selectable orunselectable users may be listed. As shown in FIG. 9, from the manageusers page 32, the contractors may be able to edit or delete usersthrough an edit users page 34 and/or navigate to a new users page 36from which new users may be added to the contractor's profile. The otherusers may be other technicians, contractors, employees, networkedpartners associated with the log-in credentials for the contractor'saccount in system 100. In some cases, each of the user's may haveselected access rights. Some users (e.g. general manager of thecontractor) may have full access rights to all data, while other users(e.g. service technician) may have access to only a limited subset ofthe data. In some cases, such access rights can be assigned/managed viathe manage users page 32.

Further, as shown in FIG. 7, from the homepage 20 a contractor maynavigate to an alert page 50. The alert page 50, as best shown in FIG.10, may provide information related to alerts regarding the operation ofone or more customer HVAC systems 130. The alerts, in some instances,may be classified into different groups. In one example, the alerts onthe alert page 50 may be classified as being a High alert, a Mediumalert, or a Low alert. Illustratively, the alerts on the alert page 50may be in list format, or in any other format, and a contractor mayaccess further information related to an alert by selecting the alertfrom the list of alerts, which may result in navigating to a moredetailed alert page 52. In some cases, the more detailed alert page 52may display a map of the location of the customer with the HVAC system130 that triggered the alert, the particular issue or issues with theHVAC system 130, a suggested underlying cause of the alert, a suggestedsolution for fixing the cause of the alert, a suggested list ofreplacement parts and/or tools required to address the alert, and/orother information related to the alert. In some instances, a new alertmay be shown on the Homepage 20, and if a contractor selects the newalert, the contractor may be taken directly to the more detailed alertpage 52, rather than first navigating to the alert page 50.

In some instances alerts may be ignored by the contractor for a timeperiod. Such ignored alerts may reappear on a contractor's homepage 20after a period of time as a reminder that the alert has not beenaddressed. In one example, if an alert is a low level alert, acontractor may choose to or select to ignore the low level alert andwait until the alert repopulates on its homepage 20 to address theissue.

As shown in FIG. 7, from the homepage 20 or other page, a contractor maynavigate to a My company or company profile page 40. The company profilepage 40, as best shown in FIG. 11, may provide biographical informationabout the company for which the contractor may work and/or with whichthe contractor may be affiliated, along with a listing of local branchesof the company. The company biographical information may include, but isnot limited to, company history, HVAC products used and/or servicesprovided by the company, branch information, technician information,corporate headquarters information, and/or other company information.From the company profile page 40, the contractor may navigate to an editcompany profile page 41. In some instances, access to the edit companyprofile page 41 may be password protected and/or the information thereonmay be controlled by the company itself. Alternatively, or in addition,the edit company profile page 41 may be controlled by the contractor, asdesired. From the edit company profile page 41, the contractor and/orother users may be able to add new branches to the company from the newbranch page 44 a and/or edit branch information from the edit branchpage 44 b. In one example, a large Company A that has several branchesmay have a single company profile page 40, but list at the companyprofile page 40 one or more of their branches and information about eachbranch.

Further, shown in FIG. 7, from the homepage 20 a contractor may navigateto a customer list page 70. The customer list page 70, as best shown inFIG. 12, may provide a list of customers associated with the contractor.In some cases, the list of customers on the customer list page 70 mayinclude a list of customers that have signed up for alert monitoring bythe contractor and/or a list of any or all of a contractor's past and/orprospective customers. In some instances the customers listed on thecustomer list page 70 may be labeled as prospective, current, or past.In some instances, from the customer list page 70, the contractor mayselect a customer identified in the customer list page and view anassociated customer details page 72. Alternatively, the customer detailspage 72 may be accessible through other pages (e.g., the alerts page 50and/or the alerts details page 52).

The customer details page 72 may provide one or more details about thecustomer including, but not limited to, customer address(es), dynamicdirections for the shortest travel time to the customer, current eventsin a customer's geographical area (e.g., traffic congestion, accidents,known constructions, large-scale events likely to cause heavy traffic,etc.), service history, current alerts, alert history, which HVAC unitsor components are utilized in the customer's HVAC system 130, which HVACunits or components of an HVAC system 130 have been serviced in thepast, weather at and/or on the way to the customer's location, etc.,and/or any other suitable customer information. In some instances, thedata used to determine current events and/or the weather at and/or onthe way to the customer's location may be utilized to create route timeestimates for scheduled appointments.

In some instances, customers may be given the opportunity by thecontractor to select their favorite and/or least favorite contractortechnicians for the contractor company. The customers may have theability to rate or select favorite technicians of a contractor or thecontractor may limit the ability of customers to rate or select favoritetechnicians through the customer list page 70. In one example, if acustomer is a long time customer, the contractor may be labeled as a VIPcustomer through a toggle switch 71, free form text, a check box, or anyother labeling mechanism. Labeling a customer as a VIP customer may givethat customer certain privileges including, but not limited to, beingable to specify desired technicians. Such preferential treatment mayincrease the chance that service calls associated with the VIP customermay receive high customer satisfaction rating by providing desiredtechnicians to perform the work.

In some instances, data attributes concerning the operation of acustomer's building control system may be provided at the contractorportal 204, as best shown in FIG. 12, on a customer details page 72.Illustratively, certain HVAC system information may be provided to thecustomer details page 72 including, but not limited to, currentthermostat and/or control data attributes for a customer's HVAC system(e.g., current temperature in a controlled area, current humidity in acontrolled area, cool set point, heat set point, active system (e.g.,cooling, in FIG. 16A), fan status, outdoor temperature, thermostatmodel, etc.), which may be displayed in an HVAC unit attribute area 73of the customer details page 72. Additionally, confirmations ofcommunications between the contractor and the customer or the customer'sbuilding control system (e.g., instructions to run tests, results fromthe tests, etc.) may be provided directly to the associated customerdetails page 72 or to any other relevant page of the web access(including the contractor portal 204 and/or the customer portal 202).Further information may be displayed on the customer details page 72including, but not limited to, the name of the customer, the name of thecustomer's thermostat(s), a nickname for the location of the customer(e.g., “Home”, “City Condo”, “Vacation Home”, etc.), physical locationof the customer's HVAC system (e.g., address), contact preferences(e.g., email, telephone call, paper mail, text, etc.), alert history,and/or any other suitable information.

As discussed above, FIG. 7 depicts an illustrative homepage 20 (e.g., acontractor portal or contractor homepage) for the contractor set of webpages (e.g., set of web pages 410, 420), which in the example shown, isa summary page populated by the controller 111 via the communicationsport 113 on a user interface of a remote display device (e.g., e.g., adisplay of a mobile computing device, a personal computer, and/or adifferent device). The homepage 20, along with other pages as desired,may be organized in a way that graphically presents information in oneor more blocks of related information (e.g., in widgets orapplications). The information within each of the one or more blocks mayfacilitate providing meaningful information to contractors which may berecognized and/or absorbed without extensive reading and/or manualprocessing (e.g., manipulating of data and/or complex analysis ofrelationships). The one or more blocks of related information maydistill and/or summarize customer HVAC data (e.g., HVAC performancedata, etc.), business performance data (e.g., client HVAC controllersassociated with the contractor, a number of leads or suggestionsreceived by the remote monitoring system 100 for customers or clientsassociated with the contractor, a number of truck rolls avoided byremote monitoring/testing, etc.), a contractor's daily schedule, HVACsystem alerts, performance data for customers associated with thecontractor (e.g., an indication of customer satisfaction, customerreviews, etc.), weather, etc.

In the example homepage 20 shown in FIG. 7, the homepage 20 may displayblocks of information concerning the weather 21, customer connections22, sales leads 23 received, truck rolls avoided 24, listing of alerts25 (e.g., a listing of alerts associated with a plurality of HVACsystems associated with the contractor), customer reviews 26, web accesssubscription information 27. As an alternative to the block formattingof the homepage 20 of FIG. 7, the homepage 20 and/or other pages of theset of contractor web pages may present information in one or more otherformats and/or present other information in addition to or as analternative to the information depicted in FIG. 7.

The homepage 20 may include a menu 18, for example, at or near the topof the page as shown in FIG. 7, or at any other location. The menu 18may include one or more tabs that may bring a contractor to anassociated page within the set of contractor web pages. In one example,and as shown in FIG. 7, the menu 18 may include a My Customers tab 18 a,an Alerts tab 18 b, a Reports tab 18 c, and a My Company tab 18 d, whichwhen selected may bring a contractor to the associated page.

In some cases, the blocks (e.g., widgets) on the homepage 20 and/orother pages of the contractor portal 204 may be modifiable andconfigurable in content, size, and/or location to provide recognizableinformation at a glance and may be presented in different formatsdepending on the computing device being utilized to view the contractorportal 204 and/or the particular user's login credentials. For example,as shown in FIG. 13, the alert details page 52 may be depicted indifferent formats for a web browser view 52 a and a mobile deviceapplication view 52 b. Such different formatting may account fordifferences in screen size, pixel count of a screen, readability withrespect to the particular computing device, etc. In some cases, it iscontemplated that the homepage 20 of a first user having first logincredentials may have different information displayed than a second userhaving second login credentials. For example, the general manager of acontractor company may be interested in having different information onhis homepage than a service technician.

More generally, each set of pages within the set of contractor web pagesmay be specific to the log-in credentials (e.g., username and password)of the person or party logging in to the contractor portal 204.Illustratively, each person with log-in credentials may choose to haveinformation that is most relevant to them displayed on their homepage 20in blocks, widgets, or other features, and each person may choose tohave that particular information displayed in a manner that is mostefficient for that person. For example, a service technician having afirst set of login credentials may receive or choose to have differentdata and/or information displayed on his homepage 20 than the data orinformation that a manager/owner with a second set of login credentialsmay receive or choose to have shown on his homepage 20. Illustratively,a service technician may receive or choose to have more detailedinformation about customer HVAC systems displayed on his home page, andperhaps only for those customers that are currently assigned to him. Amanager/owner may receive or choose to have more high level businessinformation on his home screen, such as the number of service calls,customer satisfaction, a summary of alerts across all customers, etc.Similarly, the blocks of information may be configured to have a firstset of information when a first login credential is active and a seconddifferent set of information when a second login credential is active.In some instances, the first and second login credentials may beassociated with the same or different contractor, manager, or otheruser.

In some cases, the blocks of information (or information presented inother formats) and/or data presented on the homepage 20 and/or otherpages of the set of contractor web pages may be configured to expand ordrill down into further pages (e.g., from a first level to a secondlevel, third level, etc.) upon selection of a link, the further pagesdetailing the information provided in the blocks on the homepage 20(e.g., where a second level or further may include historical HVACperformance information, historical interaction information, and/orother detailed information. These drill-down details may providecontractors relevant information without overburdening the contractors,but yet may allow the contractors to drill deeper into the informationprovided in the blocks on the homepage 20 at their discretion.

In an illustrative example, as shown in FIG. 14, contractors may selectan alerts block 25 on homepage 20 (e.g., one or more of the alerts mayinclude or may be a link), which may bring the contractor to an alertspage 50 which may provide further details concerning the alerts. Thealerts listed on the homepage 20 and/or the alerts page 50 may beprioritized (e.g. high, medium and low) and/or categorized (e.g. by theprimary impact the information and/or data may have on the operation ofthe HVAC system, such as comfort, peace of mind, and maintenance)according to one or more factors (e.g., severity of each alert, locationof an HVAC system associated with an alert, an amount of time since thealert was first issued, etc.), where the prioritizing and/orcategorizing may be performed manually or automatically based on one ormore algorithms stored in the memory of the remote computing device 110or controller 120.

From the alerts page 50, the contractors may select a specific alert(e.g., alert 54) and may be brought to an alert details page 52 thatdetails the selected alert 54 and/or the customer or customer's HVACsystem 130 from which the alert may be emanating. From the alert detailspage 52, the contractor may select a customer details block 56 and maybe brought to a customer details page (e.g., a customer report card page60) summarizing the contractor's selected customer, which may includehistorical data and/or other information for the selected customer. Asdiscussed above, in some instances, the contractor may view the alertdetails page 52 directly from the homepage 20 without viewing the alertslist page 50 by selecting a specific alert.

As referred to above, the contractors may be able to customize theirhomepage 20 along with the other pages by modifying what information isshown on any particular page and/or by organizing the blocks, tiles, orother features displaying information on that page. For example, asshown in FIG. 15, the position of the “truck rolls” block 24 may bemoved (e.g., up, down, left, right) or may be switched with respect tothe customer alerts block 25, the customer connections block 22 may bemoved or may be switched with respect to the leads block 23, or thecustomer review block 26 may be moved or may be switched with respect tothe customer connections block 22, and so on. In response to movingblocks or other layout features, the moved and unmoved blocks or layoutfeatures may be resized (e.g., automatically or manually) to ensure allblocks or layout features fit on the screen of the computing devicebeing used by the contractor.

In some cases, widget applications may be provided, where the contractormay select from a number of widget applications in a library or otherlocation to place on the homepage 20 or other page. In some instances,the contractor may drag and drop widget applications from the library orother location onto the homepage 20 or other page. Configurations ofselected and/or placed widgets may be stored in the memory 112 to a setof login credentials and pulled from the library when the logincredentials are entered into the system 100.

The controller 111 of the remote computing device 110 may be configuredto, via the communications port 113, send and/or receive data related tothe operation of one or more HVAC controllers each associated with anHVAC system 130 controlling an environment of a space of a building, andto store the data in the memory 112 or other memory. The received datamay be collected with sensors existing in HVAC systems 130 of clientsand/or from one or more sensors added to the HVAC systems 130.Illustratively, the received data may include, but is not limited to,ambient temperature gains and losses sensed by a temperature sensor ofthe HVAC system 130 (e.g., temperature gains and losses with numericalprecision of 1.0 degree Fahrenheit (F) and greater, 0.5 degree F. andgreater, 0.2 degree F. and greater, 0.1 degree F. and greater, orsmaller temperature gains and losses), a change in ambient temperaturesensed by a temperature sensor of the HVAC system 130 at various timeintervals (e.g., time intervals of up 10 minutes or greater, 5 minutesor greater, 2 minutes or greater, 1 minute or greater, forty-fiveseconds or greater, thirty seconds or greater, twenty seconds orgreater, or at time intervals faster than twenty seconds), indoortemperature, outdoor temperature, temperature set points (e.g.,temperature set points relative to time and otherwise), relay status(e.g., relay open/closed status relative to time or otherwise), indoorhumidity, outdoor humidity, heating activation (e.g., activation of afurnace), cooling activation (e.g., activation of an air conditioningcooling unit), of which some or all may be collected with existingsensors of existing HVAC systems 130.

In some cases, the controller 111 may be configured to analyze (e.g.,through trend analysis and/or other analyses) at least some of thereceived data (e.g., a portion of the received data or all of thereceived data). Based on such analysis, the controller 111 may beconfigured to develop a thermal model of the space environmentallycontrolled by the HVAC system(s) from which the data was received. Insome cases, received data may be analyzed and/or modeled by thecontroller 111 with one or more techniques disclosed in U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 14/231,474 filed on Mar. 31, 2014 and entitled ASYSTEM FOR OBTAINING AND CLASSIFYING ENERGY CHARACTERISTICS, which ishereby incorporated by reference in its entirety for all purposes,and/or with one or more techniques disclosed in U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 13/323,451 filed on Dec. 12, 2011 and entitled SYSTEM ANDMETHOD FOR OPTIMAL LOAD AND SOURCE SCHEDULING IN CONTEXT AWARE HOMES,which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety for allpurposes. Illustratively, the thermal model may be configured toestimate HVAC runtime, at a daily level or over any other time interval,and may be formulated as a parameter estimation problem that may besolved through statistical methods such as multi-linear regression ordynamic system modeling, for example. Additionally, or alternatively,the thermal model may be developed and/or used for one or more otherpurposes and/or may be formulated in one or more other manners.

The developed thermal models may be dependent on one or more parameterssensed at or provided to the HVAC controller 120 and/or the remotesystem 100, and received at the remote system 100. In one example, thethermal model may be dependent at least partially on one or more timebased events including, but not limited to one or more of time of day, aseason of a calendar year, a specified date, a specified date range,and/or other time based events or parameters.

From the thermal models developed using data received from one or moreHVAC systems 130, the controller 111 may be configured to provide anenergy audit of a space environmentally controlled by an HVAC system 130associated with a thermal model. Statistical analysis or other analysismay be used in performing the energy audit and/or to determine a normalor abnormal running HVAC system 130.

Such energy audits, or results thereof, and/or thermal models may beoutputted from the controller 111 via the communications port 113 and/orviewable through the contractor portal 204 and/or the client or customerportal 202. In some cases, the results of an energy audit for a buildinghaving a space environmentally controlled by an HVAC system 130 mayinclude an indication of thermal efficiency of a space, a heating degreedays indication, a cooling degree days indication, an indication ofefficiency of an HVAC system 130 controlling an environment of thespace, an indication of efficiency of the HVAC system as trended overtime, and/or other indications related to the operation of the HVACsystem 130. In some cases, the results of an energy audit may compareoperation of the HVAC system 130 environmentally controlling the spaceof the building to operation of one or more HVAC systems having similaror different characteristics when compared to the HVAC system 130 forwhich the energy audit may be provided.

Additionally, or alternatively, the results of an energy audit for afirst HVAC system 130 may compare operation of the first HVAC system 130controlling an environment in a first building to a second HVAC system130 controlling an environment in a second building, where the firstbuilding and the second building may have similar or different buildingcharacteristics. Building characteristics may include, but are notlimited to size of the building, age of the building, location of thebuilding (e.g., zip code), location of the building relative to ageographic feature, altitude, etc. In some cases, the first building maybe associated with a first customer and the second building may beassociated with a second different customer. In some cases, an energyaudit for a first HVAC system 130 may compare operation of the firstHVAC system 130 controlling an environment in a first building to aplurality of other HVAC system 130 controlling the environment in aplurality of other buildings.

Additionally, or alternatively, the results of an energy audit for afirst HVAC system 130 may compare operation of the first HVAC system 130controlling an environment in a first building having occupants with afirst set of lifestyle characteristics to a second HVAC system 130controlling an environment in a second building having occupants with asecond set of lifestyle characteristics, where the first set oflifestyle characteristics and the second set of lifestylecharacteristics are deemed to be similar. Lifestyle characteristics mayinclude, but are not limited to, income, environmental preferences, age,and/or one or more other sets of demographics. In some cases, an energyaudit for a first HVAC system 130 may compare operation of the firstHVAC system 130 controlling an environment in a first building havingoccupants with a first set of lifestyle characteristics to a pluralityof other HVAC system 130 controlling the environment in a plurality ofother buildings having occupants with the second set of lifestylecharacteristics, where the first set of lifestyle characteristics andthe second set of lifestyle characteristics are deemed to be similar.

In some instances, the controller 111 of the remote system 100 mayaccess third party data and/or non-HVAC system data to assist inproviding (e.g., to give context to) an energy audit of one or more HVACsystems 130 from the developed thermal model. In one example, the remotesystem 100 may have access to outdoor weather data based on one or moregeographical areas (e.g., as organized by zip codes, cities, counties,states, countries, and/or other geographical area organizers), and thecontroller 111 may be configured to correlate a developed thermal modelfor a building or space of the building environmentally controlled by anHVAC system with outdoor weather data for a geographical areaencompassing the building. In some instances, outdoor weather dataobtained or accessed by the remote system 100 may include, but is notlimited to, data related to outdoor temperature, outdoor humidity,cloudiness, solar radiation, precipitation, wind speed, wind direction,allergy alerts, etc.

Alternatively or in addition to utilizing weather data, the remotesystem 100 may have access to the received data from many different HVACsystems across multiple contractors. When so provided, the remote servermay perform statistical and/or other analysis (e.g., trend analysis)over time on some or all of the received data to help further identifynormal versus abnormal operational patterns. Additionally, oralternatively, other data and/or statistical analysis may be obtainedand/or performed to determine if an HVAC system is running normally orabnormally.

Such data and/or statistical analysis, as discussed herein, may beperformed a single time, repeatedly at a desired time interval, orperformed continuously to determine whether an HVAC system 130 isrunning normally or abnormally. Determining whether an HVAC system 130is operating “normal” or “abnormal” with respect to similar other ortypical HVAC systems 130 may assist in determining the health and/orefficiency of the HVAC equipment.

In some instances, data obtained from one or more HVAC systems 130 maybe presented in a customer report card 60, such as shown in FIG. 16A,depicting a building report. The building report for an HVAC system 130environmentally controlling a space in a building may be at leastpartially based on a thermal model configured or customized for thebuilding and/or other data analysis performed over time, and/or mayinclude some or all of the results of the energy audit.

In the example shown in FIG. 16A, the customer report card 60 may beviewable by selecting the HVAC unit attribute area 73 of a customerdetails page 72 (e.g., as shown in FIG. 12) or may be viewable in one ormore other manners through the contractor portal 204.

Illustratively, the report card 60 may include data related to presentand/or past customer interactions 62 with an HVAC system through one ormore access points (e.g., web, mobile, thermostat, etc.), present andpast indoor conditions 64 a, present and past outdoor conditions 64 b,present and past HVAC system performance 66, an estimate of futureperformance of the HVAC system 130 (e.g., run time, heating days,cooling days, or other HVAC system operating metric based at leastpartially on the thermal model customized or configured for a particularbuilding within inputs of one or more of outdoor temperature, an outdoorhumidity, a set point temperature of an HVAC controller of the HVACsystem, etc.), a comparison of a previously established estimate offuture performance of the HVAC system to actual performance of the HVACsystem, etc. This data in raw format may mean little, if anything, tocustomers and/or contractors. However, when this information ispresented in the report card format as detailed herein, the informationmay be meaningful to a contractor as it may allow the contractor to bepro-active in the services and/or products offered to the customer. Forexample, the contractor or controller 111 may be able to identify apotential issue that is likely to arise down the road, but before itmanifests or causes an outright failure. Then, the contractor may beable to make a rational case to a customer that due to the identifieddata, a particular service is needed which will result in saving thecustomer a particular amount of time, discomfort, and/or money if fixednow rather than waiting for the issue to manifest in a more noticeablemanner. In another example, a customer that interacts with the HVACcontroller may be more interested in saving energy than a customer thatrarely interacts with the HVAC controller. The contractor may offerdifferent or more energy saving products to the customer that is morelikely to be interested in saving energy.

In some instances, the features of the customer report card 60 may beselected to show further details. For example, as shown in FIG. 16B, acontractor may select a customer interactions section 62 of the customerreport card 60 (note, the customer interaction sections 62 in FIGS. 16Aand 16B differ to illustrate different example ways of displaying suchdata) to receive further details (e.g., trend information through trendanalysis) concerning customer interactions with their HVAC system 130,where the details may include graphs and/or various presentations ofdata.

In some examples, the customer report card 60 may provide or call outpoints of interest configured by the controller 111 and provided to thecontractor that are particularly relevant to the customer and/orlocations associated with the report card 60 being viewed. For example,the report card 60 may include a call out section 68, such as shown inFIG. 16B, that indicates data analysis has uncovered a potentialissue/abnormality with an associated HVAC system 130, one or morepotential remedies for the issue/abnormality, and locations of potentialparts needed for the remedies (e.g., a potential solution). In someinstances, the system 100 may search one or more databases to findsolutions to problems identified through data analysis and presented inthe call out section 68. In one example, the call out section 68 mayread: “Based on conditions inside and outside this home, along with thecustomer's user interactions, we have diagnosed an abnormal furnaceoperation (click here for a graphical representation of theabnormality). The flue igniter, part no. #### has stopped workingDistributor ‘x’, located 1 mile from you, and 5 miles from this customerhas this part in stock for MOM and open from Sam-5 pm today.”

The call outs or suggestions of points of interest to the contractor maydraw the attention of the contractor to abnormalities or potentialabnormalities in how the customer's HVAC system 130 is operating, whileoptionally also providing suggestions on what may or may not be thecause of the abnormality and/or suggestions of how to fix or correct theindicated abnormality. An example suggested cause of an abnormality maybe, among other causes, a failure of one or more HVAC components of anHVAC system 130 (e.g., a failure of the air filter of an HVAC system130, or the failure of any other HVAC component of the HVAC system 130other than the air filter) and/or a failure related to the structureserviced by the HVAC system 130. An example of a suggested solution tothe suggested cause of the abnormality may include a suggestion toreplace one or more identified HVAC components of a particular clientHVAC system, a suggestion to reprogram a client or customer HVACcontroller in a way that may fix or correct the indicated abnormality, asuggestion to modify a building configuration of a client or customerbuilding, a previously successful solution for a similar HVAC system oran HVAC system environmentally controlling a building similar to abuilding environmentally controlled by a subject HVAC system, and/or oneor more other suggestions. Examples of modifying a buildingconfiguration may include, but are not limited to, closing windows,opening windows, closing shades, opening shades, adding equipment like acooling unit, heat exchanger or humidifier, replacing aged orinappropriately sized equipment, adding insulation, sealing windows,etc.

In some instances, the call outs or suggestions of points of interestmay relate to non-HVAC related issues. In one example of non-HVACrelated call outs or suggestions of points of interest might be that thehome is warming much more rapidly in the summer than what may beconsidered normal from hour to hour, but that the data shows the HVACsystem is running optimally and has no issues. To support this call outor suggestion, the data and/or information for the particular locationof the HVAC system 130 may be cross-referenced with other data sources(e.g., utility partners for energy audits, real estate partners for ageand/or construction of home, weather partners for weather data, etc.) tofind potential non-HVAC related solutions to the identified issue. As aresult, in one example, the call out section 68 may read: “Based onconditions inside and outside this home, this home's HVAC system isrunning normally. However, this home was built in 1995 and based onconstruction standards it should not take this many hours of A/Coperation to maintain 72 degrees in this size of home. Records indicatethe house has low-efficiency, single pane windows. If the house hadhigher efficiency windows installed, the house's utility providerapproximates it would save $35/month on energy costs. A local search hasfound there is a sale on triple-pane glass windows. Select [here] toschedule an appointment with this customer.” As such, the system 100 maybe capable of identifying issues and solutions for the issues that maybe either HVAC related or non-HVAC related and then, notifying thecontractor and/or customer of such issues, along with potentialsolutions.

FIG. 16C depicts an illustrative client facing customer report card 61depicting year-over-year performance for the client or customer's HVACsystem. Additionally, or alternatively, such client facing customerreport cards 61 may depict other HVAC system performance comparisonsincluding, but not limited to, month-over-month, day-over-day,hour-over-hour, and so on.

In the example of FIG. 16C, the client facing customer report card 61has an HVAC system summary section 63, HVAC component report section 65,and an HVAC system current usage comparison section 67. Additionally oralternatively, the client facing customer report card 61 may include oneor more other sections related to the client or customer's HVAC system130. Illustratively, the HVAC system summary section 63 may provide oneor more of an overall condition of the HVAC system 130 as determined bythe controller 111 and relative to one or more parameters, an HVACsystem cost as compared to past costs, tips for lowering energy usageand/or costs, and/or other whole system comments and/or analyses. TheHVAC component report section 65 may provide one or more of an overallcondition of one or more subject HVAC components (e.g., an airconditioner and a furnace, as shown in FIG. 16C), a comparison of HVACcomponent over time to expected performance, and/or other HVAC componentcomments and/or analyses. The HVAC system current usage comparisonsection 67 may provide one or more of current weather conditions, anoverall usage indication relative to past usage for similar days, anindication of current usage, and/or other HVAC system current usagecomments and/or analyses. Other information that may be provided in oneor more sections on the client facing customer report card 61 mayinclude, but are not limited to, overall usage of the HVAC system 130 orHVAC component in a time period, an amount of time users are away from abuilding over a time period, trends in usage of the HVAC components ofthe HVAC system over one or more time periods, and/or other information.

As referred to above, the data and/or information concerning the HVACsystems 130 may be presented for viewing by the contractor and/orcontroller 111 in different ways based on the audience that has beengranted access to it (e.g., a first audience, a second audience, etc.).In one example, when the contractor has been granted access to the dataand/or information concerning an HVAC system 130, the contractor mayreceive a chart on stages of heat and cool run times. With the same dataand/or information concerning the HVAC system 130 and when a customerhas been granted access to the data and/or information, the customer maysee a graph of energy usage over time. The view of the data and/orinformation seen by the contractor may provide insight into theefficiencies of the HVAC systems 130 that a contractor may be moreinterested in than a customer, whereas the view of the data and/orinformation seen by the customer (e.g., energy usage) directly affectsthe customer and may be more meaningful than data on efficiency.Further, the data and/or information concerning HVAC systems 130 may beorganized and/or presented for audiences other than contractors andcustomers such as, but not limited to, utility managers, utilityoperators, commercial HVAC system companies, HVAC security operators,and so on.

In some cases, the controller 111 may be configured to allow acontractor or other user to configure customer report cards 60, clientfacing customer report cards 61, and/or other reports through thecontractor portal 204 or client portal 202 so as to output a pluralityof reports over time that may present analysis results in a consistentformat. As shown in FIG. 16D, a publishing tool 43 configured by thecontroller 111 may be utilized to present data and/or informationconcerning the HVAC systems 130 (e.g., results from an energy audit,thermal modeling, etc.) in various manners based on an audience. In STEP1 of using the publishing tool 43, a layout may be selected from variouslayout options 45. To the right of the layout options 45, the selectedlayout may be shown. As shown in FIG. 16D, the left hand box of thelayout may be a data insights box 48 listing selectable data insights,where the available data insights may automatically or manuallypopulated and include, but are not limited to, an HVAC system scoringindicator (e.g., GPA), a home performance indicator, a healthy homeindicator, an air conditioning performance indicator, a furnaceperformance indicator, and/or one or more other indicators. When anindicator from the data insights box 48 is selected, a graphicalrepresentation of that indicator (e.g., when a Home Performanceindicator is selected from the data insights box 48, a graphicalindicator depicting a graph or other analyses) may be displayed ingraphical indicator box 49. As shown in FIG. 16D, the selected layoutmay have a further box, which may be a contractor information box 51that may be automatically or manually populated.

In addition to, or as an alternative to, the boxes and/or informationdiscussed in the selected layout, other boxes and/or information may beutilized, as desired, and/or other data or analyses may be displayed asdesired. Additionally, one or more other techniques may be utilized whenconfiguring report cards 60, 61, and other analyses, such as depictinggraphical indicators in the data insights box 48, having a scrollfunction, a drop down function, etc., may be used. In some cases, theboxes of a selected layout may be deleted (e.g., by clicking the “x” inthe upper right corner or through one or more other techniques) and/oradded to, as desired.

Once a report card 60, 61 has been configured, a PUBLISH button 53 maybe selected and the publishing tool 43 may bring a user to a publishingbox 55 of STEP 2. From the publishing box 55, a user may be able toselect how to publish the layout of the report card 60, 61. For example,a user may be able to select between “Monitor and Save”, “Print”, “Saveas Pdf”, “Email”, and/or one or more other options. In FIG. 16D, anEmail option is selected and a user is brought to a finalizing box 57 ofSTEP 3. In an example of a finalizing box 57 that may result fromselecting an Email option, a user may be able to specify one or morerecipients for the report card 60, 61, a start day for sending thereport card 60, 61, an end for sending the report card 60, 61, arecurrence of delivery for the report card 60, 61, and/or specify one ormore other selectable option. The steps and screens shown in FIG. 16Dare illustrative only, and one or more other steps or screens may beinserted before, in between, and/or after the steps and screensdepicted.

FIG. 17 depicts an alternate alert list page 50 a to the alert list page50 shown in FIG. 10. As the alert list page 50 of FIG. 10 depicts,alerts may be listed by priority level, such as high 51 a, medium 51 b,and low 51 c. Generally, high level 51 a alerts may be the alerts thatneed attention first, medium level 51 b alerts may require attention,but are not likely to lead to imminent damage of the HVAC system 130,and a low level 51 c alerts may be the type of alerts that do not needattention until the other alerts are addressed. In some cases, eachalert level 51 a, 51 b, 51 c may have a tab and when the tab is selectedthe alerts associated with the alert level of the selected tab may bedisplayed while hiding all of the other alerts. For example, in FIG. 10,the medium alert level was selected and thus, the alerts categorizedwith a medium level 51 b of importance are displayed while the alertshaving a high level or low level are hidden. In the alternative alertlist page 50 a of FIG. 17, the categories of the high 51 a, medium 51 b,and low 51 c alerts are spaced horizontally across the screen as opposedto the vertical spacing of the high, medium, and low categories of FIG.10. The alert list page 50 a of FIG. 17 may be an alert list page 50 adisplayed on a mobile phone computing device, whereas the alert listpage 50 of FIG. 10 may be one viewed from a personal computer or tablet.Alternatively, the alert list pages 50, 50 a may be displayed on anycomputing device.

FIGS. 18A and 18B shows schematic screen shots of illustrative alertpages 180 received at a customer's mobile computing device 203 throughthe customer portal 202. Similar alert pages may be displayed on othercustomer computing devices (e.g., a personal computer 201, etc.)connected to the customer portal 202, which may have a similar ordissimilar layout than the alert page 180 on the customer's mobilecomputing device 203. The alert page 180 may include the title of analert 81 triggering the alert page 180, a current statistics and/orparameter level of the HVAC system area 82, and an assurance area 186(see FIG. 21), and/or a suggested contractors area 188 (FIG. 18A) toassist with the alert. Additionally, or alternatively, the alert page180 may display any other HVAC system 130 related or unrelatedinformation.

In some instances, the assurance area 186 may indicate a contractor(e.g., ABC Heating with particular contact information) has beencontacted or alerted (e.g., automatically contacted or alerted)concerning the alert. The assurance area 186 may include informationabout actions taken and/or actions to be taken by the contractor inresponse to the alert, which may be entered through the contractorportal 204 and/or may be automatically populated in response to thealert.

Further, once a contractor has taken an action (e.g., schedule anappointment, performed a test on the HVAC system 130, fixed a part ofthe HVAC system 130, etc.), the controller 111 may be configured tocause the customer portal 202 may display a message (e.g., a bannermessage 190 in FIG. 18B) with respect to an alert, where the message mayindicate the alert is being addressed or has been addressed to give thecustomer peace of mind. The displayed message may be displayed on whichever screen of the customer portal 202 is being displayed and/or thedisplayed message may be delivered as a text message and/or emailmessage, or the message may be delivered in one or more optionallyselectively manners.

The data obtained from one or more of the customer HVAC systems 130 maybe categorized by the primary impact the information and/or data mayhave on the operation of the HVAC systems 130. The categories of dataand/or information may include comfort (e.g., the data and/orinformation may affect how a customer physically feels), peace of mind(e.g., the data and/or information relates to assuring a customer itsHVAC systems 130 are not imminently going to break down), and upkeep(e.g., the data and/or information may trigger certain types ofmaintenance or alerts based on comparisons to normal operating HVACsystems 130). Additionally, or alternatively, the data and/orinformation may be categorized as being of high, medium, and lowimportance and/or may be otherwise categorized. In one example, thecategorized data and/or information may be provided via one or morecategorized alerts.

In some instances, the received data and/or information for the HVACsystems 130 associated with a contractor's log-in credentials, may becategorized and/or prioritized with a nomenclature created by a companyfor which a contractor works (or by the contractor itself or any otherentity). Illustratively, the created or developed nomenclature may beconfigured to facilitate sales, service, operations, and technicalsupport teams of the company. For companies and/or individualcontractors with service hotlines used for trouble shooting HVAC system130 issues, managers or other personnel may develop scripted if-thenquestion and answer guides for operators on the hotline that follow thedeveloped nomenclature for uniformity in resolving the HVAC system 130issues. For example, a company or contractor may format HVAC data and/orinformation alerts into a nomenclature and/or hierarchy that facilitateslooking up scripts for resolving standardized HVAC system 130 issues.

In some instances, the system 100 may allow a contractor (e.g., acontractor or other user via the controller 111) to organize data and/orinformation received from customer HVAC systems 130 in one or more cases74 (see FIG. 19) through the set of contractor web pages. In oneexample, a contractor may be able to open a case 74 in the system 100and associate the opened case 74 with one or more HVAC systems (e.g.,client or customer HVAC systems) and/or one or more alerts identified bythe controller 111. Illustratively, through the contractor portal 204, acontractor may link one or more resolved and/or unresolved alertsassociated with a particular HVAC system to the opened case 74.

FIG. 19 is an illustrative depiction of an opened case 74 on a casedetails display screen within the contractor portal 204. The case 74 mayinclude a case details section 75, which may include the case owner, thecase number, case stats (e.g., working or closed), a case creator, analert associated with a particular client HVAC system, etc. The case 74may also or alternatively include a comments section 76, where one ormore contractors or contractors' employees may leave comments concerningthe case (e.g., what actions have been taken to address an alert, whyone action was taken over another action, and so on). Further, the case74 may include an alerts section 77, where one or more alerts associatedwith the case 74 may be listed. Additionally, or alternatively, thedisplay of the case 74 may include customer information of a customerassociated with the case 74, a map of a geographic location of thecustomer and/or HVAC system associated with the case 74, customercontact preferences for the customer and/or the case owner, an alerthistory section, and/or other similar or different sets or areas ofinformation.

The cases 74 may be manually created in the system 100 or automaticallygenerated by the controller 111 of the system 100 and optionally storedin memory 112 of the remote server 110 or on memory of one or more othercomputing devices in communication with the remote server 110. The cases74 may be configured to be manually modified, automatically modified bythe controller 111, or secure and not capable of being modified. In anexample, the controller 111 may maintain a label of a case 74 (e.g., anopen label) until the case 74 is closed by a user (e.g., a contractor)at which point the label may be automatically or manually changed to adifferent label (e.g., a closed label).

The details of a case 74 may be manually or automatically populated uponcreation and/or manually or automatically modified or updated aftercreation and displayed on a case log display screen viewable through thecontractor portal 204. In one example, the controller 111 may beconfigured to automatically or to allow a user (e.g., a contractor) toassign a case 74 to a particular technician for resolution, to enternotes and/or associate notes to one or more cases 74, to associate thecase 74 with a particular client or customer HVAC system, and/or topopulate the case 74 in one or more other manners.

The cases 74 may be labeled based on their status. For example, cases 74that are open may be labeled as open, cases 74 that have reached aresolution may be labeled as closed or dismissed altogether, cases 74that resolve themselves may be labeled as closed or dismissedaltogether, and cases 74 that may not require immediate attention, butmay require attention at a later time may be labeled snoozed or delayed.Alternative or additional labels may be used as desired.

Cases 74 may facilitate grouping data attributes that are generated atdifferent times, but for a specific location or other data group,together for a better understanding of what might be occurring at alocation of an HVAC system 130. Alternatively, or in addition, records(e.g., alerts and other notes) from multiple locations of HVAC systems130 may be batched together under a specific consumer/business accountand/or by one or more label or category associated with the cases. Insome instances, the alerts and/or information grouped together in cases74 may be time stamped and/or analyzed for trends over time to developpattern recognition of issues arising at a particular location of anHVAC system 130, with a particular customer, in a particular geographiclocation, or in any other grouping of data and/or information from HVACsystems 130. Such pattern recognition may help identify, among otherfeatures, a normal versus abnormal HVAC operation, normal versusabnormal user interactions with one or more HVAC controllers (e.g.,thermostats, web controllers, app controllers, etc.), or normal versusabnormal atmospheric indoor and/or outdoor temperature, humidity, etc.conditions.

FIG. 20 is an illustrative depiction of a case log 78, wherein thecontroller 111 through the communications port 113 may be configured topopulate a case log 78 on a display. On the case log 78, one or morecases 74 (e.g., including, but not limited to, two or more cases 74,three or more cases 74, etc.) may be displayed in a listing of cases. Insome instances, the case log 78 may have a case details section 75(e.g., which may be similar to or dissimilar to the case details sectionof the cases 74), which may list the case number for the case 74, thecase owner, the associated customer, the date the case 74 was created,the case label, a date the case label was last changed, and/or any otherinformation related to the case 74.

Any feature of the case details section 75 may be selected and thecontroller 111 may be configured to populate a display with detailedcase information regarding the selected case 74. For example, thecontroller 111 may be configured such that selecting the case number ora “VIEW DETAILS” button may bring the contractor to the case detailspage displaying further case information regarding the selected case onthe display (e.g., one or more alerts associated with the particularHVAC system, case owner, case status, etc.), selecting a case owner maybring a contractor to a list of other cases 74 created by that caseowner, selecting a customer may bring a contractor to a list of othercases 74 associated with the selected customer, and selecting a datecreated may bring a contractor to a list of other cases 74 that werecreated on the same day. Further, the cases 74 displayed on the case log78 may display cases 74 associated with a particular branch of a companyor cases 74 associated with any other category through a drop down menuoption 79 (see FIG. 20) or other selection mechanism.

On the case log 78, only the working or active cases, only the closed orinactive cases, or both the working (active) cases and the closed(inactive) cases (as shown in FIG. 20) may be displayed. In someinstances, a working cases or closed cases header may be selected tohide the associated cases 74 from view. Other labels and/or categoriesmay be displayed, as desired, on the case log 78. The cases 74 displayedin the case log 78 may be sorted based on a label or category assignedto the case 74. For example, the cases 74 may be sorted by open casesand closed cases (where each set of cases 74 may be sorted by a date thecase 74 was labeled open or closed), an assigned technician, ageographic area (e.g., a geographic area associated with a location ofan HVAC system of the customer or some other geographic area), acustomer account, or other label or category associated with one or morecases 74.

Contractors, at their discretion, may set, through the my profile page30 or other page, one or more customized triggers that automaticallysend notifications to the contractor and/or a customer based on dataand/or information received from the HVAC systems 130. For example, thecontractor may set a trigger such that if a customer were to rate thecontractor with a single star (e.g., out of five stars on a performancereview presented on a thermostat or in an otherwise received survey),the contractor would receive a notification at its email, mobile phonevia text, or in any other manner that it received a single star, alongwith a notification indicating the contractor should follow up with thecustomer due to the poor customer rating/review. In another example, thecontractor may set a trigger such that if the customer's indoortemperature is eighty seven (87) degrees Fahrenheit (e.g., it is warminside), the outdoor temperature is one hundred ten (110) degreesFahrenheit (e.g., it is hot outside), and the indoor temperature isrising at speed greater than one (1) degree Fahrenheit per hour, anotification is sent to the customer through a text message, through thecustomer's email, through the customer's thermostat and/or via any othermechanism suggesting the customer do “ . . . ”. The capability allowingcontractors to set triggers for sending notifications to customersand/or to the contractors themselves, and may extend to promotional,sales, service, operational, and/or other notifications in response toreceived HVAC and/or customer data and/or information.

In addition to setting triggers that automatically send or pushnotifications to customers, contractors may be able to use the set ofcontractor web pages to automatically send or push messages to consumersat or before the time of a service call, appointment, or other contactbetween the contractor and customer. In some instances a sent or pushedmessage to a customer at the time of a service call or appointment mayinclude the contractor's employee's biographical information (e.g.,name, picture, qualifications (e.g., employee and/or contractorqualifications)), contractor's contact information, customer ratings forthe contractor and/or the contractor's employee, current statistics orsettings for the customer's HVAC system 130, the current issue with thecustomer's HVAC system 130 that is the reason for the service call orappointment, the estimated arrival time of the contractor orcontractor's employee, and/or any other information related to theservice call. Such an automatically sent or pushed message may allow acustomer to prepare for the contractor or contractor's employee byproviding the customer with an image of whom to look for at their doorand a general understanding the contractor or contractor's employee'sexperience, skill, and/or likeability.

FIG. 21 shows an illustrative arrival notification 80 that may beautomatically sent or pushed from the controller 111 to a customer'semail, mobile device (e.g., phone), calendar, etc. prior to arrival of acontractor or contractor's employee for a service call or appointment.The arrival notification 80 may include an alert title 81 if an alerttriggered the service call or appointment. In some instances, the alerttitle 81 may include the category of the alert and/or the priority ofthe alert. Further, the arrival notification may include HVAC statisticsand/or settings 82 for the customer's HVAC system 130. The contractor'sand/or contractor's employee's biographical information may be providedin the arrival notification and may include, but is not limited to, thecontractor's and/or contractor's employee's name 83, picture 84, and/orqualifications 86. Further, the arrival notification 80 may include anestimated arrival time (e.g., estimation of an actual arrival time or anestimated time until arrival) and/or estimated cost associated with theservice call. Additionally, or alternatively, the arrival notification80 may include other similar or dissimilar information concerning thecustomer, the customer's HVAC system 130, and/or the contractor or thecontractor's employee.

Another type of notification that may be transmitted to a customer maybe a rating request notification 90 from the controller 111. The ratingrequest notification 90 may be sent to a customer as an email, as a textmessage, a message on a customer's HVAC controller 120, and/or as avoice call. As shown in FIG. 22, the rating request notification mayindicate why the customer is being asked to submit a contractor rating(e.g., because the contractor performed a service call on the customer'sHVAC system 130) in a service area 92, an option to rate the contractorbased on a set scale (e.g., a five star scale or other rating scale) ina rating area 94, and an option to provide freeform feedback in afreeform feedback box 96.

In some instances, a rating request notification 90 may be automaticallysent or prompted to be sent to a customer once a case 74 has been closedThe rating request notification 90 may note the case log number andother case details (e.g., the associated alert(s), the location of theHVAC system/service call, etc.) in the service area 92 of thenotification 90 to remind the customer why a rating request notification90 was delivered. The automatically sent rating request notifications90, may request the customer to rate on a rating scale (e.g., 1-5 starsor other rating scale) the contractor business, the contractor employee,the contractor's product/service offerings, and/or the contractor'sconsultative skills, depending on what services and goods were providedto the customer and whom provided those services and goods. As therating request notifications 90 and subsequent ratings may be tied toparticular cases 74, alerts, and/or service calls, all ratings aredirectly associated with a known interaction between the contractor anda customer.

The data received from customer ratings may be available to contractorsthrough a customer satisfaction page 91, as shown in FIG. 23.Additionally, or alternatively, the pooled and weighted or non-weightedaverage of the data on the customer satisfaction page 91 may bedisplayed to customers and potential future customers. Illustratively,potential future customers within a contractor's service area may beable to review customer rankings of specific contractors, the productsused by specific contractors, and specific employees of specificcontractors, and, in some cases, use these rankings when selecting acontractor. In one example, the customer satisfaction page 91 mayprovide a contractor's average rating in an averaged rating area 93, acontractor's historical averaged ratings 95, and a graphicalrepresentation of a contractor's averaged rating 97, which may be viewedon a yearly, quarterly, and/or monthly basis.

As discussed herein, a contractor may have geographical locationinformation for each customer associated with the contractor. Thesoftware of the system 100 may combine the geographical location datawith the averaged ratings data provided through rating requestnotifications 90. With the combined geographical location and ratingdata, the contractor may be able to view a map of associated customersalong graphical indications of customer satisfaction (e.g., emoticons 99indicating showing a smiley face—high customer satisfaction, straightface—average customer satisfaction, or frown face—low customersatisfaction), as shown in FIG. 24. In some instances, a map 102, wheremarkers thereon for geographical locations of customers may beselectable to produce an emoticon 99 associated with a customersatisfaction level or any other indicator associated with a customersatisfaction level. Further, the emoticons 99 or other indicator may becolored to indicate to a contractor the current status of any alertsassociated with the customer and/or the customer's HVAC system 130 atthat geographical location. Such graphical representation of combineddata may provide a contractor an overview of its associated customers,may facilitate planning a day around customers that need immediateassistance and/or customers that have previously given poor reviews,and/or may allow a contractor to provide an example of existing customersatisfaction levels to potential new customers.

A customer may have access (e.g., electronic access) to their accountthrough a personal computer, an HVAC controller user interface, anapplication on a mobile phone, and/or through a website accessible witha computing device. In instances where a customer is utilizing anaccount for their HVAC system 130 through an application, website, orother software, an appointment calendar page 46 for the contractor maybe synched with an appointment calendar page 47 for the customer that isviewable and/or editable through an account on a mobile application (asshown in FIG. 25A), an account on a website, and/or an account via othersoftware. With the synched calendar, the contractor may have the abilityto set start times, end times, and overtime for service calls that areviewable by the customer. In some examples, the contractor's time mayinitially appear in two (2) hour increments, for example, on thecalendar of the contractor and the calendar of the customer. Customersmay then view a contractor's availability and schedule a service calland specify their reasons for the scheduled service call (e.g., a salesconsultation, a services consultation, troubleshooting, a request forreferences). In response to a customer scheduling a service call, thecontractor may be given an opportunity to confirm the scheduled servicecall. Once the contractor has confirmed the service call (assuming thecontractor does not reject the service call), the calendar segmentrepresenting the selected time slot for the service call may be grayedout on the contractor's appointment calendar page 46 and may be madeunavailable for further scheduling, as shown in FIG. 25B. Additionally,once the service call appointment is confirmed, a confirmation may besent to the customer's appointment calendar page 47 indicating thescheduling of the service call.

In some cases, the contractor and the customer may be able to go backand forth to schedule an appointment. For example, when a customer mayselect a time for a service call at which the contractor has indicatedhis time will be charged as overtime, instead of confirming the servicecall, the contractor may go back to the customer and indicate a lessexpensive time for a service call, particularly if a service call maynot be imminently required. As such, the contractor and the customer maybe able to work together through electronic communication to set aservice time that works for each party.

In some cases, the set of contractor web pages may include a return oninvestment counter page 16, as shown in FIG. 26. Among other features,the return on investment counter page 16 may include a leads generatedblock 23 (e.g., showing leads generated by the contractor portal 204), acustomer connections block 22 (e.g., which may list new customersgenerated by the contractor web access), customer reviews 26 (e.g.,customer satisfaction ratings), an existing alerts and resolution timeaverages for connected devices, and truck rolls avoided. Such data maybe filtered as desired, for example, by year-to-date, year over year,quarter-to-date, quarter over quarter, month-to-date, month over month,and so on.

From the return on investment counter page 16, the contractor may scrollover one or more block for further information. With this furtherinformation, the contractor may be able to calculate the financialbenefit of utilizing the system 100.

When a contractor scrolls over the leads generated block 23 or selectsany other designated area of the return on investment counter page 16, aleads page 104 may be generated, as shown in FIG. 27. The leads page 104may display an indication of leads generated through the system 100 andleads converted over a selectable time period (e.g., a year, month,week, etc.), along with a graphical representation of the data. Further,the leads page 104 may list the leads and/or the converted leads, ifany. The data may be further filtered by any other restriction, such as,but not limited to, by a branch of a company.

When a contractor scrolls over a customer connections block 22 orselects any other designated area of the return on investment counterpage 16, a connections page 106 may be generated as shown in FIG. 28.The connections page 106 may display an indication of new customerconnections generated through the system 100 and connections lost over aselectable time period (e.g., a year, month, week, etc.), along with agraphical representation of the data. Further, the connections page maylist the connected customers and/or lost customers, if any. The data maybe further filtered by any other restriction, such as, but not limitedto, by a branch of a company.

When a contractor scrolls over a customer review block 26 or selects anyother designated area of the return on investment counter page 16, acustomer review page 108 may be generated as shown in FIG. 29. Thecustomer review page 108 may display an indication of averaged customerconnections received directly as a result of contractor-customerinteractions over a selectable time period (e.g., a year, month, week,etc.), along with a graphical representation of the data.

When a contractor scrolls over a truck rolls block 24 (e.g., a truckrolls avoided block) or selects any other designated area of the returnon investment counter page 16, a truck rolls avoided page 116 may begenerated as shown in FIG. 30. Truck rolls avoided are recorded when acontractor closes a case 74 and indicates in a generated survey that thecontractor portal 204 assisted in avoiding an unplanned truck roll(e.g., an unplanned transportation to an HVAC system 130 location) andthe number of truck rolls avoided and/or made may be recorded and storedin a memory of a computing device. The truck rolls avoided page 116 maydisplay an indication of the number of truck rolls avoided over aselectable time period (e.g., a year, month, week, etc.), along with agraphical representation of the data. Further, the truck rolls avoidedpage 116 may list the locations to which truck rolls were initiated, ifany. The data may be further filtered by any other restriction, such as,but not limited to, by a branch of a company.

As contractors may insert their service area when setting up theirprofiles within the system 100 (e.g., via a graphical map and/or byselecting area codes, cities, counties, etc.), zip codes of customersand/or potential customers in the system 100 may be referenced againstthe contractor established service area and the contractors may be ableto identify potential customers (as discussed above) and/or existingcustomer to which marketing messages and/or materials may be sent basedon geographic locations of customers. In one example, contractors may beable to push or send general (e.g., canned) or custom promotions tocustomers or potential customers within their services areas (e.g., tocustomers with zip codes in the contractor selected service area). Themarketing messages and/or materials may be electronic messages in theform of emails, text messages, banner advertising (see FIG. 31A showinga banner advertisement 190 in customer portal 202), full pageadvertising (see FIG. 31B showing a full page advertisement 192 incustomer portal 202), etc.

In some cases, the contractor advertisements may include short termdeals (e.g., deals that expire in one hour, two hours, three hours andso on, or deals that last longer). The deals in advertisements may havea schedule appointment button (e.g., schedule appointment button 194 inFIG. 31B) from which a customer may be able to schedule an appointmentfrom an advertisement to take advantage of a deal or special offering.Illustratively, when the marketing messages and/or materials areaccepted by customers or potential customers, new leads, customers, andecommerce sales may be generated, tracked, and/or stored by the system100 (e.g., remote computing device 110). In some instances, the operatorof the remote computing device 110 may monitor the marketing and/ormessages sent to customers and/or potential customers to avoid spammessaging and/or undesirable messages (e.g., messages not related to thesystem 100 or other undesirable messages).

In some instances, the system 100 may present one or more indications(e.g., a notification, a suggestion, a suggestive selling tip, a lead,etc.) to a contractor or other user that identify which, if any, of oneor more client HVAC systems 130 would benefit from a particular productor service. Illustratively, the indications may be directed to aspecific customer or several specific customers based on received dataassociated with that customer and/or an HVAC system 130 of thatcustomer, as shown in FIGS. 32 and 33, where the indication mayencourage a user or contractor of the system 100 to contact the clientor contractor.

Illustratively, a controller 111 of the system 100 may be configured todetermine or identify one or more of a plurality of client or customerHVAC systems 130 that may benefit from a particular product or service.In one example, the controller 111 may be configured to search for apattern in data received from client or customer HVAC systems 130. Ifthe controller identifies a pattern in the data received from the clientor customer HVAC systems 130, the controller 111 may provide anindication including a suggestion and/or a promotion for a product orservices that addresses an identified pattern in the received data for aparticular client or customer associated with the HVAC system 130providing data for which a pattern was identified. In some cases, thecontroller 111 may be configured to search for one or more patterns ofhumidity level over a period of time, a pattern of temperature levelover a period of time, a pattern of fan activation over a period oftime, a pattern of particle count over a period of time, and/or one ormore other patterns.

In some instances, the controller 111 may be configured to determine ifthe client or customer HVAC systems 130 would benefit from theidentified product or service based on one or more parameters. Forexample, the controller 111 may be configured to determine if a productor service related to an HVAC system 130 would benefit the HVAC system130 by determining the particular product or service would improve oneor more of the comfort provided by the client or customer HVAC system,the efficiency of the client or customer HVAC system, the maintenancescosts (monetary and time) for the client or customer HVAC system, theperformance of the client or customer HVAC system, and/or one or moreother benefits of the client or customer HVAC system.

The controller 111 may be configured to output via the communicationsport 113 the one or more indications that identify which, if any, of theplurality of client HVAC systems 130 that may benefit from theparticular product or service based on analyzed data and provide datasupporting implementation of the particular product or service in theindication. Once a particular product or service has been identified,the controller 111 may communicate or output, via the communicationsport 113, the product or services and supporting data for display on adisplay. For example, the particular product or services and supportingdata may be output to a display of a smart phone, a tablet, a laptop, apersonal computer, an HVAC controller (e.g., a client or customer HVACcontroller or other controller), any display accessible by a user of theremote contractor system and/or the remote client system for viewingthereon.

In one example of providing the indications, data comprising averageindoor and/or outdoor temperatures may be received at the remote systemvia the communications port 113 for specific buildings (e.g., specifichouses) and this data may be analyzed by the controller 111 todetermined personalized heating degree days and cooling degree days forthe HVAC system 130 of the building. When the determined personalizedheating degree days and cooling degrees days are trended over time, auser or the controller 111 may determine or quantify the efficiency ofthe house and potential areas in which the contractor may be able tosuggest improvements to the customer based on determined or quantifiedefficiency of the house. As such, because an indication identifying aparticular product or services may be based on the determined orquantified data and/or information concerning a client or customer'sHVAC system, a client or customer may be more willing to implement theparticular product or service at the suggestion of the contractor orother user.

In instances when the controller 111 provides an indication with apromotion for a product or service that addresses an identified patternin the received data, the controller 111 may be configured to output toa client or customer the indicated promotion via the communications port113 automatically or after receiving the approval from the contractor.The controller 111 may then receive an acceptance of and/or a proposedor scheduled service time for the indicated promotion sent to the clientor customer.

Illustratively, a method of identifying clients or customers withbuilding automation or HVAC system needs for contractors and/or otherusers of the system 100 which service the HVAC systems 130 of theclients or customers may include receiving and storing data related tothe operation of a plurality of client or customer HVAC systems 130 andanalyzing that data using the controller 111 (e.g., a processor). Basedat least in part on the analysis of data, the controller 111 may beconfigured to determine if a client or customer HVAC system 130 wouldbenefit from a particular product or service. The method may furtherinclude generating one or more indications that identify which, if any,of the client or customer HVAC systems 130 may benefit from theparticular product or service and outputting the generated indicationsto a display for viewing by one or more of a contractor and a customeror client associated with an HVAC system for which an indication wasgenerated. Additionally, or alternatively, one or more other steps maybe included in the method of identifying clients or customers withbuilding automation or HVAC system needs.

Displayed indications may include pop-up messages 88 or other messageson a customer details page 72 or customer report card 60, as shown inFIGS. 32 and 33. Examples of specific suggesting selling tips mayinclude, but are not limited to, “Scratch, scratch, scratch. It's dry inCustomer A's house right now! Have you offered them a whole homehumidifier? Based on their home's ductwork and size, a bypass model isrecommended”, “Based on this home's size, age, equipment size, andgeography, this home is considered to have low efficiency. This customeris a perfect candidate for the utility company's Energy EfficiencyProgram”, and/or “Over the last three (3) years, this home has lost 50%of its efficiency in terms of furnace and A/C run time. That equates to$900/year in unnecessary costs, according the local utility's currentrates. A new HVAC system would save them money and improve comfort”.Such suggestions may arrive at the contractor's web access (e.g., set ofweb pages 410, 420) via a prompt through a pop-up message, email, textmessage, banner message, or other notification technique.

In some instances, and in response to generating a suggestive sellingtip, the system 100 may be able to manually or automatically send dealsor promotional information to customers, where the deals and/orinformation may be customer specific, timely, and relevant (e.g., basedon the customer's HVAC system 130 data or information). Such dealsand/or promotional information may be accepted by the customer orignored, as desired. When accepted by the customer, the manually orautomatically sent deals and/or promotional information may generateecommerce sales and/or service calls.

Further, contractors utilizing the system 100 may provide and/or promotenetwork contacts for non-HVAC businesses via suggestions, promotions,and/or deals sent to customer web access pages. As discussed above, thesystem 100 may provide contractors with suggested non-HVAC systemsolutions to HVAC related issues (e.g., new windows may be needed toaddress uncharacteristically high temperature loss). When presentingsuch a non-HVAC system solution to a customer, the contractor may beable to electronically suggest to the customer a dealer that may be ableto assist in the non-HVAC system solution. Alternatively, or inaddition, a contractor may be able to list contacts for non-HVAC systembusinesses and associate such business with its set of contractor webpages or with its account, where the lists of contacts may be searchableby customers. In some cases, a block on a contractor's home page maylist the number of referrals a networked non-HVAC system businessreceives because of its connection to the contractor. In some cases, areferral fee may be charged for sales made as a result of the referral.

As shown in FIG. 34, there may be a real-time repository of promotionaland technical information between the operator of the remote computingdevice 110 (e.g. a system 100 provider) and the contractors throughpop-up messages 89 and/or other messages on a homepage 20 or other pageof a contractor's set of web pages. Such pop-up messages 89 or othermessages may include “FYI from [equipment manufacturer]. A newtroubleshooting video regarding [Problems X, Y, Z] is now available.Fifty [50] of your customers have this model. WATCH NOW”, whereselecting “WATCH NOW” may bring the contractor to the troubleshootingvideo referenced in the message. The system 100 may track whichemployees watched the video.

Contractors with two or more employees utilizing the system 100 througha set of contractor web pages may set and/or manage sales, service,operations contests or goals for their employees. The contests and/orgoals may be focused on improving sales, services, and operations basedon the HVAC data and customer data inputs. In one example, a managerwith the contractor company may set a contest or goal for its employeeswith the contractor company.

As shown in FIG. 35, the manager, from a manager page 232 may create amessage 230 setting a contest to be the first employee to sell six (6)items on a list of items in order to win tickets to a baseball game.Another example contest or goal may include a manager setting a goal ofreducing an alert resolution time by thirty (30) minutes or some otheramount of time. A further example of a contest or goal may be that if anemployee installs a particular number of thermostats of brand A in thenext quarter, that employee will receive a badge of honor andrecognition. Any other contest, game, or goal may be set as desired.

Once a contest or goal has been established, the message 230 containingthe contest or goal may be delivered to each employee that isparticipating in the contest or goal. Further, the manager's page 232may provide the manager with updates 234 on how well the employees areperforming with respect to the contests and/or goals. In some instances,contractor employees other than managers may be able to view throughtheir individual contractor web access pages how other employees and/orbusiness units are performing with respect to set goals and/or contests.

An application programming interface (API) may be developed for allowingthird party applications to interact with the system 100 (e.g., theremote computing device 110 or other feature of system 100) to siphon oruse data from connected HVAC systems 130. In some cases, an applicationmay be developed that utilizes the set of customer web access pages andthe set of contractor web access pages. For example, a utility companymay have an energy program for which it programs a software application240 (e.g., a mobile device software application) and the operator of theremote computing device 110 may grant general access to the system 100for the software application through a developed API for the software ofthe system 100. Once the utility energy program has been initialized, autility program pop-up 242 or other message associated with a customermay populate that suggests to the contractor that the customer should beenrolled in the utility energy program, as shown in FIG. 36. Thecontractor may then suggest to the customer via a message ornotification that the customer participate in the program. If thecustomer accepts the invite (e.g., through the customer portal 202), theutility energy program application may receive access to the data and/orinformation of the customer's HVAC system 130 through the API. Further,the customer may access their enrollment and status in the utilityenergy program through the application 240 and/or through the customerportal 202. Additionally, or alternatively, the API for the system 100may be used for other applications to facilitate access to the system100 and/or analysis of the data in the system 100.

The prioritization of data and/or information, as discussed herein, mayallow a contractor to organize and/or plan their day. Additionally, oralternatively, such prioritization may provide directionally correctnext steps for addressing and/or resolving abnormal operations of HVACsystems 130 that impact customers' comfort and/or peace of mind, whileoptimizing HVAC operation through pro-active upkeep.

The disclosure should not be considered limited to the particularexamples described above, but rather should be understood to cover allaspects of the disclosure as set out in the attached claims. Variousmodifications, equivalent processes, as well as numerous structures towhich the disclosure can be applicable will be readily apparent to thoseof skill in the art upon review of the instant specification.

What is claimed is:
 1. A remote system configured to communicate with anHVAC controller, wherein the HVAC controller executes a controlalgorithm for controlling one or more HVAC components of an HVAC systemof a building and the remote system is remote from the building, theremote system comprising: a communications port; a memory; a controllercoupled to the communications port and the memory, wherein thecontroller develops a thermal model of a space environmentallycontrolled by the HVAC system based at least in part on data related tooperation of the HVAC system over time, where the data related to theoperation of the HVAC system is received over time from the HVACcontroller via the communications port and stored in the memory; and thecontroller provides an indication of thermal efficiency of the spacethat is based at least in part on the thermal model, and outputs theindication of thermal efficiency to a user interface via thecommunications port.
 2. The remote system of claim 1, wherein the remotesystem has access to outdoor weather data for a geographical area thatencompasses the building, the controller develops the thermal modelbased at least in part on the outdoor weather data.
 3. The remote systemof claim 2, wherein the geographical area corresponds to a zip code. 4.The remote system of claim 2, wherein the outdoor weather data for thegeographical area includes data related to one or more of outdoortemperature, outdoor humidity, cloudiness, solar radiation,precipitation, wind speed, wind direction, allergy alerts.
 5. The remotesystem of claim 1, wherein the thermal model is dependent at leastpartially on one or more time based events including one or more of timeof day, a season, a specified date, and a specified date range.
 6. Theremote system of claim 1, wherein the received data includes indoortemperature, outdoor temperature, and temperature setpoints relative totime.
 7. The remote system of claim 1, wherein the controller providesone or more of a heating degree days indication and a cooling degreedays indication based at least in part on the thermal model.
 8. Theremote system of claim 1, wherein the controller provides the indicationof thermal efficiency of the space and an indication of efficiency ofthe HVAC system based at least in part on the thermal model.
 9. Theremote system of claim 1, wherein the controller provides an indicationof efficiency of the HVAC system trended over time based at least inpart on the thermal model.
 10. The remote system of claim 1, wherein thereceived data includes ambient temperature gains and losses with anumerical precision of 0.1 degree Fahrenheit or greater as sensed by atemperature sensor of the HVAC system.
 11. The remote system of claim 1,wherein the received data includes a change in ambient temperaturesensed by a temperature sensor of the HVAC system at intervals of up toone minute.
 12. A remote system configured to communicate with an HVACcontroller, wherein the HVAC controller executes a control algorithm forcontrolling one or more HVAC components of an HVAC system of a buildingand the remote system is remote from the building, the remote systemcomprising: a communications port; a memory; a controller coupled to thecommunications port and the memory, wherein the controller is configuredto develop and output an estimate of future performance of the HVACsystem based at least in part on data related to an operation of theHVAC system over time, wherein the data is received over time from theHVAC controller via the communications port and is saved in the memory.13. The remote system of claim 12, wherein the received data includesone or more of indoor temperature data, indoor humidity data,temperature setpoint data, outdoor temperature data, outdoor humiditydata, heating activation data, and cooling activation data.
 14. Theremote system of claim 12, wherein the estimate of future performance ofthe HVAC system is based at least in part on a customized thermal modeldeveloped for the building.
 15. The remote system of claim 12, whereinthe controller compares the estimate of future performance of the HVACsystem to actual performance of the HVAC system.
 16. The remote systemof claim 12, wherein the estimate of future performance of the HVACsystem includes an estimate of HVAC system run time that is based atleast in part on a customized thermal model developed for the buildingwith inputs of an outdoor temperature, an outdoor humidity, and asetpoint temperature of the HVAC controller.
 17. A remote contractorsystem comprising: a communications port; a memory; a controller coupledto the communications port and the memory; wherein the controllerdevelops a customized thermal model for each of the two or morebuildings based at least in part on data related to operation of two ormore HVAC controllers of two or more HVAC systems, each servicing one ofthe two or more buildings, that is received via the communications portover time and saved in the memory, wherein the received data includesone or more of indoor temperature data, indoor humidity data,temperature setpoint data, outdoor temperature data, outdoor humiditydata, heating activity data, and cooling activity data; wherein thecontroller generates a predicted HVAC system run time for each of thetwo or more buildings based, at least in part, on the correspondingcustomized thermal model; and wherein the controller outputs a reportfor each of the two or more buildings that is based at least in part onan actual HVAC system run time versus the predicted HVAC system runtime.
 18. The system of claim 17, wherein the report compares an actualHVAC system run time for a particular building to predicted HVAC systemrun times of two or more other buildings.